Fighting Back
by robbiepoo2341
Summary: Robin never escaped Slade. How is this effecting him and the others?
1. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them. The story idea is also completely mine and any story similar to it is pure coincedence.

Thank you to everyone who responded. I am glad you like the story and I hope to hear more from y'all.

Chapter 5

He walked slowly into the dark room, scowling silently as he bound his fresh wound with his good arm. Growning, he saw Slade sitting in his usual chair, watching clips of the recent battle, no doubt smirking behind that mask. "His performance worsened. Perhaps I should up the training," the man was musing quietly to himself.

Growling, he attacked, ignoring his throbbing left arm as his right first came flying down towards Slade, who nonchalantly ducked, then arose, assuming a fighting stance and staring down the shorter boy.

"I'm sick and tired of you!" he yelled as he dodged an incoming punch. "I'm tired of listening to you, tired of doing what you tell me to, tired of fighting them, and I'm tired of this idiotic getup!" he continued, pulling off the silver "S" and taking out the communicators in his ears, smashing them with his boots.

"Temper, temper, Robin," Slade chided easily as he dodged one of his flying kicks. Knowing that the boy was at a disadvantage, he swung towards the injured shoulder, but Robin saw it coming and pulled away just in time, letting the gloved fist connect with the hard metal.

Beads of perspiration formed on his brow and upper lip, which he tried to ignore. His shoulder really was slowing him down, perhaps he should have waited before exploding like this, but what's done is done; there was no turning back now. Reaching behind him, he grabbed a nearby pipe: not exactly a bo-staff, but it would be sufficient for his purposes. With a cry of anger, he lept out into the light, bringing his newly acquired weapon straight down into the ground, centimeters away. "If only he would stand still long enough..." he thought, exasperated.

Suddenly, a gloved hand connected with his injured shoulder, catching him by surprise. The pain shot up his arm, like a thousand tiny needles attacking his shoulder all at once. With a startled gasp, he grasped his shoulder in agony, rolling on the ground to avoid another blow. Moaning in agony, he tried to push himself back up, but the feat seemed impossible with only one good arm, so he resolved to stay put, not like he had any other choice.

A gloved hand reached down and picked the defeated boy up by his spiky hair and brought him up onto his feet. The owner of the hand spoke, saying, "Now that you have been reminded of your place, I have something you might be interested in seeing. As a glowering Robin, fixed his hair with his good hand, a screen lit up in front of him. In shock and disbelief, he watched as Starfire searched in vain for her friends, but was knocked unconscious by a stray rock caused by the fray Terra had wrought upon herself.

"Starfire!" he moaned, angry at himself for letting it happen and feeling an overwhelming guilt that told him that he was responsible for it, seeing as he had made Terra lose control in the first place.

"You've done well for my purposes, apprentice. Thanks to you, Terra knows we are aware of her weakness, and I do believe you have had quite a lasting impression on her," Slade chortled. As he spoke, he signalled to Wintergreen to bring Robin new communicators and a new silver "S". He took these grudgingly, but did not put them on. Scowling, Wintergreen "escorted" him back to his room, locking the door from the outside. The old man's expression never changed, but he rather simply stared ahead, letting his eyes tell the boy how disappointed he was that he had been injured and how apolegetic he felt.

As soon as he heard the click of the lock and the sound of echoing footsteps slowly leaving the vicinity, he threw himself backwards onto the cot, his thoughts and emotions overwhelming his already weakened frame. "My fault, my fault, it's all my fault!" he moaned over and over again. The throbbing shoulder did not help to deter his thoughts, but rather reminded him of what had recently transpired and how he had come to acquire the wound in the first place. "I'm such an idiot! How could I have let this happen? I should have done something, should have fought back, anything!" he growled at himself, beating himself up inwardly as tears came to his eyes. Though he bit his lip in an attempt to hold them back, he found that his cloth mask was suddenly damp and heavy from the fallen tears.

"Have you really sunk so low?" He could hear her voice asking him this question. Despairing, he finally succumbed to the sleepiness overtaking his frame, slipping into an uneasy sleep filled with nightmares in which he heard her voice and saw those eyes, those deep, tortured eyes that he had caused to be filled with pain and sorrow and sadness. His fault.

He awoke the next morning with a sore shoulder. Silently, he rebound his wound, then tried moving it. Despite searing pain, he could still use it. Good. At least it wasn't broken. As he moved about his room, brushing his hair and teeth and the like, the air was so much drier, quieter, than normal. Almost an eerie silence had befallen the place. Each footstep eachoed with distinct clarity magnified perhaps by his own emotions. This day had already begun in a depressing way.

There was no breakfast, nor any training session; the door remained locked from the outside, hemming him in. Truthfully, if this was punishment, he would much rather be made to fight and army of robots than be stuck in this room with naught but his memories to keep him company and nothing to do but reflect on the pain, the sorrows, the tears, the suffering. Every bit of which he had caused.

He sighed sorrowfully, letting all his breath rush out at once, picturing for a moment that he could banish all his horrible memories, everything he'd done, every day he'd had to spend living this way, along with the breath, but the feeling only lasted for a moment as a new course of pain racked his body through his shoulder. Though he would have believed he had developed a strong resiliance before, this particular injury was fueled by both pain and remorse, both physical and physcological pains.

For the entire day, he lay in that bed, sometimes, if he was lucky, drifting into an uneasy sleep that was often disrupted by painful memories taking the form of dreams every time he found the strength to return to the deep confines of his subconscious. There his worst fears and greatest wishes were realized; it could be both a torturing and enlightening experience, yet he returned to these confines every night. Never before had he found it so easy for him to feel his emotions full-force like what he was now feeling, and he was not sure if he enjoyed it or not, for this often meant that he would feel the overwhelming entirety of his sorrows. For those moments when he was not lost in his thoughts, he was exercising, trying to stretch out his arm, the like. As soon as he could get this dumb shoulder to heal up, he'd be back on his feet, making that wretched man pay for every last tear she had shed.

He knew that night had come when the shadows in his room grew to encompass it. Noticing ruefully that the electricty had apparently been cut off from his room, he sat back down on his cot, shivering in the pitch black room. After hours in this position, he finally drifted into a long, good sleep, as opposed to those five-minute nightmares he had experienced during the day. He was now experiencing a state of total peace and quiet, in which no dreams interefered, but rather his conscious appeared to be leaving him be for the moment. When he awoke the next morning, he longed for that state of total quiet, without a care in the world.

The first thing he noticed that morning was how hungry he was. Yet there was no breakfast that morning either. How was he supposed to heal if they didn't feed him? His stomach rumbled as he trudged into the bathroom to do his hair. This day would be just as long, as uneventful, as the one before it. This punishment was worse than any one before it, for it was psychological torment, tearing him apart from the inside out, as opposed to the normal thrashings that slowly defeated him from the outside in. Perhaps Slade had finally found a torture that would bring him into total submission.

On the final, third day, he had resorted to all sorts of small things to entertain himself to keep him from going insane. He drank from his sink, knowing that it was all he would get that day in terms of nourishment, then spent the entire day exercising the muscles in his left arm and shoulder, trying to loosen it up. It was working, actually. He had noticed that morning that he had been able to put weight on it without experiencing the all to familiar searing pain.

As he prepared for the next long, silent night, a voice emitted from his communicator, "Apprentice, come." At this, he almost jumped, for he had become so used to the quiet, so accustomed to the internal struggle, that he had almost forgotten that those things were in his ears.

Footsteps echoed through the hallway outside, the first sounds other than the dull echoes of his boots that he had heard in a long time. A key scraped, a lock clicked open, and a door swung on its hinges, allowing him to leave that small space for the first time in three days.

Wintergreen's initial reaction was one of surpirse. He had fully expected the boy to be weak from hunger, to show signs of submission, to be broken, but he was not. The boy who stood before him showed no emotion, if so perhaps anger and rebellion, but rather simply nodded wearily at him and walked past. There was no sign of the inner struggle he knew the boy had to have been experiencing. Shaking his head, Wintergreen wondered whether his master had truly succeeded in breaking the boy down or had just sparked more rebellion in him.

Robin walked into the briefing room, his eyes adjusting to the relatively bright lights. After having been in a dark room with no heat and no lights, everything seemed bright to him. Standing before him was Slade, the sneer evident in his one eye, even though his face was not seen to show it. Raising his chin, he stared up at the taller man, letting his own body language speak for him, telling the man sublimely that he was still as full of hate as before, and that he was not going to be broken down. The man did not waver, but instead informed him that his training would resume the next morning. With that, he was dismissed, thankfully without a new mission or any such thing. As he walked back, his stomach growled and he once more thought about the stocked frigde back at his old home in the Tower...


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them. The story idea is also completely mine and any story similar to it is pure coincedence.

Chapter One

He trudged down the hallway, each step eachoing dully in this dark place. Even after a year's time of being in this place, he still had not gotten quite used to it. As much as it pained him to think about it, he missed his bed, he missed his hot meal, and most of all, he missed his friends, especially her. Reaching the end of the hallway, he pulled open a door and let himself in. It was a room, if you could call it that. A cot and a bedside table sat in the corner of the room while another door led to the small bathroom. Sighing dejectedly, he sat down on the small cot and began to take off the metal bands on his arms and legs.

It was the same routine, every day, for the past year. Ever since his _master_ had forced him to serve him, he had not been the same. At the beginning, he had a child-like hope that he could break away, that everything would turn out all right, but his friends never could figure out why he had deserted them, they never did see how he hated to fight them. Every fight with his master had ended badly, in either pain or a threat against his former friends. Eventually, he had learned to control himself, to wait until the time was right to test himself against the man again.

He heard the final, satisfying clink as the last metal band came off onto the table. Stretching out across the cot, he tucked his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling, holding back the tears that had come to his eyes. Normally, he could handle missions, but this time, she had actually fought him with all her strength. This time, there was no talking involved, just empty, sad eyes staring back at his own masked ones before attacking.

A knock at the door alerted him to Wintergreen's presence. Although he had no obligation to rise for the old man, he did so anyway, for they had formed a kinship of sorts. Wintergreen understood him, even if he did not express it. Sometimes, he would find extra food or a newspaper article about his former friends under his pillow at night, and know it was from the kind man. The old butler had taken pity on him, and as much as it hurt his pride to be pitied, he had to admit that it was nice to have at least someone in the same situation, stuck under Slade's gaze. Nodding politely, he took the plate from the butler and dismissed him. He checked the bottom of the saucer. A newspaper, wonderful. Contentedly, he sat down to do one of the few things that made him feel like a Titan again, to read about it.

Apparently, some strange villain named the Puppet King had invaded the tower the night before. A smile tugged at his mouth as he pictured Beast Boy and Cyborg as puppets. Reading on, he was glad to hear that Raven and Starfire had saved them, despite having been stuck in each other's bodies. Surely that was a learning experience for everyone. Except him.

Biting his lip, he sat back again on the cot and wondered how he would have handled the situation. Would he have been a puppet or a hero? Every time he read about a victory, he wondered why he couldn't have been there. And every time he read about a loss, he was angry with himself; maybe if he had been there it wouldn't have happened.

He put the article down and scarfed down some food, exhausted from the day's work. Slade wasn't happy with his performance, he knew, but he had gotten the job done and given him a fight to watch, what more could the man need? Though he did not do as well as he could, he still succeeded in his missions, and yet the man could always find a way that Robin could improve.

Laying back down, he remembered the day's fight. Starfire had led the group after he had left. According to the latest rumors, she had adopted his obsessive nature. She locked herself in his old study all day, desperately trying to figure out the reason why he had deserted them. How could she be so close to the truth and yet so far from it? Starfire's eyes had been downcast as she cried out, "Titans, take him down!" and began firing starbolts at him. She had long since lost the will to fly, except in battle, and this was evident in her latest battle strategies. She was talking to him less and less, and in fact, he feared that she was becoming depressed.

Raven had attacked immediately after Star. She had wrapped him in negative energy and prepared to blast him before he blinded her with a small disk, with the "S" on it, of course. Raven had perhaps been the least effected, at least on the outside, by his leaving. Then again, she had always managed to filter out her emotions, so this was no surprise to him. She had once solely been defensive, but her attacks were getting more ferocious, and Robin could have sworn her eyes were glowing red in the last few seconds of the battle.

Cyborg had been the easiest to take down, at least for him. Any other villain would have been knocked flat, but Robin knew that the big softy could never shoot him, his former best friends, even if they were enemies now. And yet during the last battle, he had. Robin still had the bruises to prove it. They were getting tougher, and he knew it.

Beast Boy, the youngest and most impressionable, had ceased to speak to him since the second week, preferring rather to change into animals so as to prevent even the smallest urge to talk. Rarely did Robin ever see the changeling in human form anymore. He missed the optimistic smile and the constant jokes the boy was always telling.

He had just finished eating when a voice that eminated from the communicator lodge in his ear spoke, saying, "Apprentice, come." The voice was dark, deathly, and most would flinch at having to obey it every day, and yet that was what he did. Slowly, he got up, muttered a quick, "On my way," and slipped on the metal bands. He walked down the hallway as slowly as he could, dragging out every step just to aggravate Slade. He still had a fiery spirit of hope and rebellion on the inside, he just had learned to suppress it.

When he reached the room where Slade was waiting, he was met by several clips of the same blonde girl on every wall. In some, the girl's eyes were yellow, and she seemed to be exercising a power that gave her command over rocks. In others, she was crying, or running, or hiding. This girl seemed to be as desperate and depressed as he was, and he immediately felt sympathetic towards her.

"She is unstable, her powers are out of control. Perhaps we could manipulate her into our plans," the taller man said. Robin flinched at the use of those words, "we" and "our", but did not say anything. "Of course, if she joins the Titans, then you'll just have to fight her as well," he added, the smirk evident behind his words. Robin glared back at him but said nothing.

After watching and studying several clips, Robin felt like he knew everything about this girl, and soon grew tired of her. While he hoped the Titans would befriend her, he did not want to fight her, especially if she lost control on him. Finally, to his relief, Slade dismissed him.

He returned quickly to his room, staring out the small window he had carved into the walls himself. It showed the tower, shining like a beacon in the night. He yearned to return there, to be with his friends again, but as long as those cursed probes were there... He shook his head, banishing the depressing thoughts from his head. He laid his head down on the pillow and closed his eyes, allowing himself to drift into an uneasy sleep, filled with fanciful dreams in which he was with them again, even for one night. At least at night, in his dreams, he was happy.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them. The story idea is also completely mine and any story similar to it is pure coincedence.

Chapter Two

She greeted the rising sun with the same optimistic attitude she had always had- that today would be the day she would figure out the mystery behind his desertation. Stretching gracefully, she made her bed with haste, as always, then ran to the kitchen. Wanting nothing to distract her, she brought her breakfast to his- her study. She quickly returned to the computer, opening the file on the case that had started it all- Slade's fake chronoton detonator. Every time she opened this file, she could feel her heart being tugged out, but it was a neccessary sacrifice if she wanted to save him.

When she watched the footage of herself and the others leaving him behind, she let the tears fall freely. She could not help but feel responsible. If she had stayed behind to help him, maybe this all could have been prevented. So caught up in her memories, she almost missed the most crucial element of the case, when she and the others were hit by the blaster. Ever since that fateful day, she had had a feeling that there was more to that ray, but she could not quite put her finger on it.

A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. Glaring at whoever it was through the steel door, she paused the footage just as the ray fired, though not on purpose. She answered with a curt, "Yes?"

"Um, Star? It's my day to do the dishes, and I was wondering..." It was Beast Boy. Glowering, Starfire stalked back to the table and grabbed the plate, still carrying half of her breakfast. She shoved it towards him, then asked, "Is there anything else you require, or may I go back to my work?"

Faltering, Beast Boy shook his head, so Starfire slammed the door in his face. Honestly, why couldn't the others understand how much it meant to her to save Robin? Why wouldn't they just leave her alone? Just as she was about to return to the computer, a siren went off, and this time it was Cyborg who opened her door. Sighing, she rose from her chair and almost dejectedly asked, "What now?"

"It's not Robin this time, Star. It's something or someone else," Cyborg said immediately.

Supressing a sigh of relief, she ran down the hallway, declaring, "Trouble!" despite the fact that her teammated were fully aware what the lights meant. They boarded the T-car, Starfire and Cyborg sitting in the front while Raven and Beast Boy sat in the back.

"If it's not him, who is it?" Raven asked.

"I don't know. There were reports of a monster chasing a young girl, but that was it," Cyborg replied uneasily.

Starfire opened her mouth as if to speak, but thought better of it. She wanted to ask Cyborg why he had found it neccessary to call her from her research for such a small case. _He_ still needed her help, and she wasn't going to let anyone stand in the way.

"We can take him down easily. This will be a piece of cake compared to-" Beast Boy stopped himself in midsentence, sparing Starfire the pain of remembering the past mission.

She hadn't wanted to fight him, but her mind told her it was neccessary. As much as it had pained her to, she had managed to push her emotions aside for a while in order to fight. In her mind, she wasn't truly fighting him, but fighting someone else. Truthfully, the Robin she knew was long gone, replaced by someone she did not know. This Robin was the one she fought, but the other was a boy she struggled daily to revive, to save from the pains she felt he was going through.

They pulled up to the site to see a huge cloud of dust, but not much else. The dust cloud seemed to be moving, though, so they followed it to a dead end in the rocky valley. Out of the cloud came a giant scorpion, its tail curled and ready to strike the young blonde girl it had trapped against a wall.

"Titans, go!" Starfire declared, readying her starbolts, but she was stopped in her tracks as the girl did something strange. A yellow glow eminated from her eyes as she grunted, raising her arms. To Starfire's further surprise, a large chunk of rock became dislodged from the cliff and came crashing down onto the giant bug, crushing it and killing it instantly.

"Wow," Beast Boy said in amazement.

The girl brought herself up to meet the group of teenagers and landed a few feet in front of Cyborg, who began to introduce himself. "I'm Cyborg, and we're-"

"The Teen Titans!" the girl finished for him, her eyes wide in amazement. "Let's see...Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy..." she cut off and began to look around for the missing Titan.

"Robin is no longer with us, if that is who you are looking for," Starfire said stiffly.

"Oh," the girl straightened up, her face pink with embarassment. "I guess I'm a little bit more behind the times than I thought."

Starfire turned away angrily, "You are behind by no less than a year. Tell me, how is it that you were unaware of Robin's departure?"

"Well, I've been wandering the world for some time. I haven't really had a place to stop and read the paper, even if I had the money to buy one," the girl answered, her eyes downcast.

"So, do you have a name?" Raven asked finally, breaking the silence that ensued.

"Oh, my name's Terra," the girl said, brushing a strand of hair off her face.

"Terra..." Beast Boy muttered, his heart thumping in his throat.

"So, do you have a place to live now?" asked Cyborg, eager to have a real conversation.

"Oh, I mostly hang out in caves and stuff..."

This time, Starfire spoke with concern in her voice, "Oh, you should stay with us, then! You need nourishment and shelter. Otherwise, those monster bugs could create quite a dreadful infestation!"

Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy smiled behind Starfire. They were glad to see their friend showing compassion and love, something they had thought she had lost long ago.

Perhaps there was hope for her after all.

Inside, though, the girl was debating with herself. One part of her was feeling, a strange concept to her lately, other than those feelings of depression and anxiety. Yet another part was worried. Worried that Terra would attempt to fill the void in her heart that Robin had left, worried that the others were too accepting, worried about whether the girl was trustworthy. How true these worries would soon prove to be.

Once they had returned to the tower, she immediately locked herself in her room while she could hear the sounds of her friends welcoming party for the new girl. Glaring, she logged back on, finding the picture exactly as she had left it, but something was different. Because the computer was so meticulous about details, it had shown every particle of the beam. After having looked at many hours of footage, her eyes had becom accustomed to the screen, and she could catch any small detail. She increased the magnification on the picture until all she could see was red on the screen. There. In the center of the screen. A black dot. It may have been nothing, but for the first time in a year, she had something solid to go on. Excited, she increased the magnification as much as the screen could, but all she could discern was that the got had a silver "S" on it, similar to the discs Robin now carried around.

"Starfire?" a voice outside her room asked. Terra.

"What is it that you require?" she asked absentmindedly, her focus on the Slade-dot.

"Um, the others want to know if you would like to go out for pizza," Terra replied nervously.

She rubbed her temples, thinking. A good rest would do her good, as she had seen when Robin had been obsessed... The memory brought tears to her eyes, but she shook them off. Finally coming to the conclusion that her body needed nourishment if she were to continue on this case, she replied, "I am on my way, please wait for a moment longer." She saved the latest finding to a file marked IMPORTANT, than opened the door, leaving the gloomy room behind. As she walked she could not help but wonder if she was wasting precious time for Robin.

At the pizza parlor, Starfire tolerated her friends arguement over a pizza topping. It irked her that Terra seemed to be taking Beast Boy's side on everything, but she did not speak up. It was good for the boy to have such relations. She knew all to well that one's feelings should be expressed before it is too late, for how quickly life can dissolve before one's very eyes without presenting the opportunity to do anything. Raven took Cyborg's side in this argument, not out of any feelings like those that were evident between Beast Boy and Terra, but because she simply "did not eat fake meat".

"Just order something!" she spoke up finally after the fourth round of arguing. This brought the others to silence, and they stared at her in amazement. "I suggest two pizzas. We are all capable of eating that much, are we not? One shall be vegetarian and the other pepperoni." She glared at the others as if daring them to challenge her.

"I guess a compromise will do," Cyborg admitted finally, then stopped a passing waitress to place his order.

Starfire sat back in her chair, grateful that it was finally over and that she could think clearly now. What was that mysterious dot on the screen? Had she discovered a major clue, or just another dead end? Sighing dejectedly, she wondered why she was even attempting to solve a puzzle this complex, and yet she pressed on every day, never wavering in her faithfulness in Robin, knowing that there must be a reason behind the madness, for if there was no such reason, she would surely go mad. Surely there was a reason. Surely...


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them. The story idea is also completely mine and any story similar to it is pure coincedence.

Chapter 3

There was something different about this morning, he knew. The sun seemed to be brighter, the sky bluer... or maybe it was just the after-effects of the glorious dreams he had just awoken from. She had figured out the mystery, come to his rescue. Together, they had destroyed Slade, and they had embraced for a long time afterwards. It was so depressing to be woken from such a dream, but as soon as he knew it was a dream, he put such thoughts aside. These dreams had been getting more and more frequent lately, and he had to deal with the sadness they caused afterwards, even if he loved to feel such emotions again.

He glanced sleepily over at his bedside table. Five fifty. Just enough time to do his hair and get dressed before he would be called in for another training session. Pulling himself over the side of the bed, he yearned for the days when he could sleep in without having to get up for anyone else. He almost didn't notice the breakfast Wintergreen had left for him- a large blueberry muffin. Eating with one hand while perfecting the spikes in his hair with the other, he had barely swallowed before the voice in his ear commanded him to come down.

Sighing, he opened the door and walked down to the meeting hall. Months ago, he would have been late to such meetings, but he had learned better after the first few times. Having to fight an army of Slade bots and then Slade himself was enough punishment to put the boy in his place after the first five or six times, though he had managed to force Slade into creating better robots in order to match his skills. Smiling at the memories of his rebellion, he almost forgot to turn at the next hallway, but the gloomy room was hard to miss.

"Good morning, apprentice," Slade said, his voice dissolving into a snicker as always.

Robin chose not to respond, but instead assumed a fighting stance, ready for anything Slade was going to throw at him today. To his surprise, the man chuckled, saying, "Not yet. I must say, you are becoming so eager to fight these days, almost yearning for violence, are we?" Chuckling to himself, he switched on a video of the Titans' latest mission: Terra. Robin watched as Starfire and the others met the girl. Surprised to see Starfire acting so impartial, he bit his lip in remorse, for he again could not suppress the feelings of guilt that he had caused her to be this way. He watched as Terra was accepted into the group and tried to hide a smile at Beast Boy's obvious crush. Finally, Slade turned off the screen, then looked to his apprentice. "This is a good opportunity for us, to break their spirit. You will go and fight them and cause the girl to loose control. No doubt she will not stay with the Titans long afterwards."

The statement surprised Robin; even in her current state, Starfire would never excommunicate an innocent girl! At worst she would give the girl a scolding, but never send her away! Unless the girl left of her own accord... He understood now. Slade wanted him to plant doubts in the girls mind.

"Yes, apprentice, that is your job, to plant the seeds of doubt in her mind. Once she is seperated from the Titans, my plan can be put into action, but only then," Slade said once he saw the realization dawn on Robin's face.

With as much meekness as he could muster, Robin replied, "Yes, master." How he hated that word: master. Yet that was what he had been calling the man that he had hated more than anyone else in the world for a year. A year. Realization dawned on him: Tomorrow would be the day, the exact date that marked a year since his becoming an apprentice. Depression overtook his thoughts as he left the briefing room, supposedly to await assignment. A year.

Entering his dark room, he allowed himself to fall straight backwards onto the bed, not bothering to take off the metal bands that so bothered him. Never had it crossed his mind that he would be captive to this man's sinister plan for so long, yet here he was. He had always assumed that he would escape before then, but this was not so. Sadly, his dreams had all been crushed, and tomorrow he would have lost an entire year to this horrid lifestyle.

He wasted hours in this same position, reminiscing about the days when he was a beloved hero, a figure that the entire city could look up to, when he had her by his side. He had almost lost her once before, to her sister. Remebering the talk they had had on the roof, he beat himself inwardly for not being able to find the right words to say then. If he could, he would tell her exactly how he felt. He would not have let his own embarassment get in the way, how could he? Why couldn't he have done that? Why couldn't he explain to her that he had obsessed over Slade not only because he could not bear to be beaten, but because he could not bear to see her injured? How was it that he could take down monsters, but not his own feelings?

When the knock at the door sounded, echoing in the silent and gloomy room, he had to force himself to sit up. It was Wintergreen, obviously, Slade would have just called him. "Come in, it's unlocked." Robin said unhappily.

Silently, the old butler walked through the door, setting down the dinner platter beside the boy. Nodding politely to him, Robin was about to sit down, but something in Wintergreen's manner stopped him. There was a look of urgency in the man's eyes, but doubtless he was forbidden to tell Robin anything about it. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but thought better of it, leaving the room with swift, large steps, making sure to close the door firmly behind him. Almost as if on que, Slade's voice intruded on Robin's thoughts, commanding him to report at once.

As soon as he arrived in the dusty room, he was handed the blaster. It was the same thermal blaster he had stolen on his first mission as Slade's apprentice. Every mission, he carried it with him. Perhaps it was Slade's way of reminding him of how he was under his thumb, or maybe Robin was just losing it, but he had grown to hate that blaster with all his being. Ruefully, he strapped it on to his right arm, then stood silently, awaiting instruction.

"Your former friends have finally decided to show their faces in public; they are currently arguing over which pizza topping to have," Slade informed him in an almost teasing tone. Robin felt a ping of sorrow at hearing about this. Granted, the Titans were allowed to continue their daily lives without him, but he so missed leading a normal life, at least as normal as he could.

"You will lure them out somewhere where there is an abundance of rocks, somewhere where it would be all too easy for Terra to slip up," Slade informed him in a commanding tone, bringing his thoughts back to the present.

"Yes...master," he replied heavily, dreading the inevitable fight that would follow.

He stationed himself in the very canyons in which Terra had first met the Titans. He threw several discs at a corner of the cliff, causing it to slide towards the city. He wasn't worried about the citizens, his friends- former friends- would be able to stop it in time. He just hoped that they could stop him in time. Of course, his success was neccessary to their survival anyway...

"Robin! What do you think you're doing?" Cyborg's voice carried across the night sky.

Robin looked up to see Beast Boy in the form of a pteradactol, carrying the giant man, while Raven had stopped the rockslide with her powers. Starfire hovered in front of them all, staring into his eyes sadly, asking, "Have you really sunk so far as to merely cause damage to the city that you once helped to protect for your own enjoyment?"

His heart plummeted, and he opened his mouth to respond, then remembered his deal with Slade, that he was not to talk to them. He instead answered with a shrug, as impassive as he could make it. Then he saw Terra coming up behind them, riding precariously on a rock. She touched down, thankfully, and righted herself, readying herself for battle.

"Titans, go!" Starfire cried out, pointing her finger at Robin with much inward difficulty.

"Hi-yah!" Terra yelled unexpectedly, throwing a huge boulder in Robin's direction, catching him off guard, something he hadn't experienced in quite some time. After picking himself back up, he stared back at her, his eyes sad underneath his mask, though the emotionless cloth did not let them know so.

"A little violent, are we? Careful, we wouldn't want to lose control, would we?" Robin taunted. The words tasted strange in his mouth. It had been such a long time since he had truly spoken, save to acknowledge a command or a good deed from Wintergreen, and now that he had the chance, he was speaking words that were foreign to him, words that he had been ordered to speak, not words that he wanted to say.

Starfire was thrown off as well. This was the first time she had heard him speak in a year. His voice had become...hoarse, hard. He really had changed in this past year.

Raven attacked next, throwing several objects his way, all of which he expertly dodged, though he had a few close calls. As soon as he landed back on his feet, Cyborg attacked him with his sonic cannon, catching him in the chest and throwing him back into the wall.

"Wow. That actually hurt," he thought to himself as he picked himself up off the ground just in time to avoid a barrage of starbolts and negative energy. Just then, Beast Boy came charging at him in the form of a bull. Grabbing the green animal by its horns, he straddled it, guiding it right into Cyborg. Beast Boy and Cyborg collided, landing in a heap to the side.

"Try this on for size!" Terra grunted, lifting a huge chunk of rock right above him. Looking up, he was dwarfed by its shadow. Thinking quickly, he threw an explosive disc at the chunk of earth, then dived out of the way as it blew apart, though a large piece caught his arm, tearing through the uniform.

"I believe I just did, and I think I won. Is that the best you can do?" Robin taunted once more as he tactfully avoided an attack from Raven, though his reaction time was slowing due to his injury.

Terra's eyes glowed yellow and she gave a shout, bringing several rocks to her side. As she prepared to hurl them at Robin, Raven came up beside her, ready to give the rocks a bit more punch. Suddenly, one of the rocks seemed to falter, and the rest began to spin more and more quickly around her until they created a tornado. "No!" Terra cried out, holding her head in her hands.

Beast Boy and Cyborg arrived, having finally untangled themselves, ducking instinctively as the rocks flew around their head. "Terra!" Beast Boy yelled, running right into the whirlwind to help his friend.

Robin watched the chaos that ensued. He secretly was glad Terra had lost control when she did. He looked down ruefully at the tear in the sleeve of his uniform. That was...hard. Then he was suddenly reminded of his final step of the mission, and he bit his lip, not sure if he wanted to continue this taunting. "Say it," Slade's voice said in his ear.

Grimacing, he opened his mouth to deliver the final verbal blow. "You know you can never truly be a Titan with powers like those!" he yelled back as he retreated into the darkness. As soon as he was out of sight of his former friends, he gripped his injured arm dejectedly, not wanting to think about what he had just done. As soon as he got back to the lair, he was going to let Slade have it, injury or not. He was getting sick and tired of this.


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them. The story idea is also completely mine and any story similar to it is pure coincedence.

Chapter 4

She saw his receding figure sneak back through the cave. Although she thought about following him back to figure out where the lair was, she thought better of it, instead focusing on the problem at hand: Terra's powers. How could this girl have neglected to tell them that she was not fully in control of her powers? How could she have been so dumb as not to ask in the first place?

"Duck!" Beast Boy's voice came out of nowhere as the changeling came flying towards her. With ease, she sidestepped him, letting him land beside her. With a determined look on his face, the boy jumped right back into the fray.

Shaking her head in both amusement and disbelief, she continued to search around for the rest of her friends. Raven was behind Terra, lying on the ground and clutching her leg. Apparently, she had been hit by one of the rocks thrown madly about by Terra. Concerned, Starfire pulled the girl out into a safer area, away from the swirling vortex in which Terra was situated. Once they were out of danger, Raven lay down and closed her eyes, entrancing herself so as to heal her wounds. Starfire knew that her friend would be safe now, so she ran quickly back towards the fray.

Cyborg was the next one to find Starfire. He was blasting every rock he saw, trying to make the tornado lose momentum, but his efforts were futile. In a fierce whisper, she told him of Raven's condition and asked him to watch over her. She continued through the swirling dirt and dust, trying to find her way to Beast Boy and Terra, but she could not find them.

"Terra!" she heard Beast Boy calling with concern and intensity in his voice as he attempted to locate the blonde.

"Beast Boy?" Terra's voice resounded, giving Starfire an idea where the center of the tornado was.

Suddenly, she felt something connect with the back of her head, and she felt suddenly dizzy. Dropping to her knees, she groaned, grasping her head in pain and she fell to her side. Her world went black as she saw Beast Boy and Terra falling slowly back down to earth as the tornado dissolved, then saw Terra's eyes brimming with tears.

"Starfire? Starfire! Hold on! We need to get you back home now! Star!" Terra was saying, but she couldn't discern the next few phrases, for she had blacked out.

Waking up, she bolted upwards, turning her head from side to side, trying to get an idea where she was. Nothing clicked. All she could see were blurs and colors, not much to go by. Sighing impatiently, she waited for her vision to clear, then tried again. Apparently, she was in the hospital wing of the tower, sitting in bed.

"Nice to see you up," said a gloomy voice beside her.

Starfire whipped her head around to see Raven sitting on the cot beside her, reading a book. "Raven? You are okay?"

"Yeah, I've been okay for the past few days, but those two dimwits won't let me out of here because they say the ligiment isn't completely healed yet. I'm supposed to be allowed to leave tomorrow. I've got to say, it's nice to see you up, although it was nice and quiet around here with Beast Boy and Cyborg handling all the work and you out of commission," Raven paused. "Then again, it's not like you say very much to begin with."

Nodding absentmindedly, Starfire looked around the room. There was nothing to do here, no computers she could use to moniter the boys. Suddenly, something clicked. "How long have I been in this place? How long have I been unconscious?"

"Three days, give or take."

"Three days?" The revelation was astounding. She had been out of commission for that long? How had they managed? Had they gotten any more reports on Robin? How was Terra? "What has been occurring in that time?"

"Well, Robin hasn't hit anywhere so far. According to Cyborg's camera- that you so wisely had him install in his armor to document all of the mission's concerning Robin, thank you- he was hit pretty badly. Last the camera saw of him, he was running away into the sewers, bleeding pretty badly from his shoulder," Raven replied, knowing instinctively that it was the first thing that Starfire was going to ask about.

"That is good to know, at least, that you have not had to deal with our former friend during my absense. What about Terra?" she asked.

"She locked herself up in her room. She's been up there crying for these past three days. I think you might need to say something to her, once you're better that is. Hey, where are you going? You're not supposed to be up! When you faint in the hallway..." Raven continued her rant as Starfire pulled herself up out of bed and into the hallway. Grabbing the railing for support, she slowly made her way up the stairs to Terra's room.

"Hello?" she asked tentatively as she knocked on the door.

"Starfire? You're okay?" Terra's voice came from within, filled with pain and sorrow.

"I have just recently awoken and have come to check on you, friend," Starfire said in as friendly a tone as she could manage despite her dizzy sensation.

"I'm so sorry. I just lost control! I didn't want to tell you guys because I thought you wouldn't accept me if you knew and now you do know and I don't know what to do because if I stay I'm putting you all in danger, but Cyborg and Beast Boy say that I shouldn't just leave because of one mistake and that I should think my decision through but after what happened to you I don't know if I can or not because I don't want that to happen to anyone else, I'd never forgive myself if I did, so maybe I should just go!" Terra said this all in one breath as soon as she opened the door. After taking in big gulps of air, she fell on her knees, crying and apolegizing over and over again.

"It is all well, friend. You meant no harm. Sometimes we make mistakes, but we must continue." Her words were like a sword in her mind, but a beacon to Terra. In her mind, she was convincing herself that Robin was to be forgiven and that he really was simply the victim of an innocent mistake, while to Terra, it seemed that she was being a kind, loving friend.

"Star! What are you doing up and about? You get right back to that medical ward, and I mean now!" Cyborg's voice said behind her and she whirled around to face the big man.

"I am sorry, friend, but I merely wished to comfort Terra and invite her to stay on permanently as a member of the Teen Titans!" she explained, throwing as big a grin as she could manage in the direction of the poor girl.

"Apolegies or not, you need to get back in that bed," Cyborg replied, picking her up and carrying her back to the medical room, though he could not suppress a grin as he handed a communicator to a beaming Terra.

"May I at least have my laptop so that I might work on my bewildering case?" she asked with as buttery-smooth a voice as she could muster.

"Whatever floats you boat, and keeps you inside," Cyborg replied, secretly relieved that Starfire was not going to fight him to roam freely.

"Thank you," she smiled easily, happy that she could at least do something productive while she was stuck in a room for the next few days.

After she had been brought back to the medical ward, she was plopped down next to Raven, who nodded to acknowledge her presence, then continued reading. She immediately keyed in her password and began working on the case. Both of the other Titans rolled their eyes. Same old Starfire, always unwilling to give up hope in Robin. Sometimes they wondered if it was effecting her health.

She was immediately engrossed in the case, opening the file with the newest findings. What was that dot and could it be anything? Suddenly, she looked up to see that Cyborg was no longer there. She called him on her communicator and he came rushing in.

"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.

"Worry not friend, I merely need your assistance on an element of the present case," she said, soothingly.

Sitting down beside her, he asked, "What can I do to help?"

"I found this in the stream of particles emitted from the blaster with which we were hit on that day when it all started. I would like for you to, since I am currently in the medical ward anyway, scan to see if these tiny devices are located anywhere within my body."

"Can do," he grinned, pulling out several instruments and setting to work to create a scan that would sense something so tiny. Starfire hoped fervently that this was an essential clue in the case, that there would be a breakthrough. If they had truly injured Robin as badly as Raven had said, his life could be dependent on it!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, or any related material, although the story idea is mine.

Chapter 6

She awoke with her face pressed against the keyboard. A flashing red screen blinked the word "Error" over and over again. Startled, she pushed herself back up into a sitting position, realizing ruefully that she had fallen asleep while researching. With a quick stroke of the keyboard, she turned the laptop off and looked over to see her friend Cyborg also sleeping. Tired, she glanced at the clock: 6:30 in the morning. The screens of the medical ward showed scans of hers and Raven's bodies, but the scans had not been reduced to microscopic scans yet, they were supposed to start that today.

"About time you woke up, that computer voice has been annoying me for the past hour," Raven said when she sat up.

"My apologies, friend, I must have let myself drift into the sleep without realizing it," she replied, her cheeks flushing with embarassment. She started to rise, but remembered her promise to Cyborg to stay in the bed, so she settled back down again. "Raven, are you able to walk today?"

"Finally. I thought those two would never let me out of here, but even now, they won't let me get up until they run a few final tests. Looks like you and I are stuck here for the time being," her friend said, slightly smiling.

She reached into her pocket and brought out a communicator. "Terra? Are you awake?"

"I am now," answered a sleepy voice on the other end.

"My apologies, friend, but we wish for you to come down and assist us, for we are currently incapable of going anywhere," she replied.

"On my way," replied a tired Terra.

A few minutes later, the girl walked in, brushing her hair as she walked. Starfire felt a twinge of guilt for making her get up this early, but she really needed someone to help her out. "Thank you for coming here on such short notice, friend."

Terra shrugged sleepily, saying, "What are friends for?"

Smiling broadly, Starfire motioned Terra over to give her a huge hug, then set the gasping girl back down. She then proceeded to give orders, "getting down to business" as Cyborg said so often. "First, would you please wake up Cyborg? Tell him that you are here to assist him in the scans."

"No problem," Terra replied, but she soon found her task near impossible. She tried poking, prodding, screaming, banging, but nothing seemed to be working. Finally, Raven decided it was time to help.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven cried, allowing the magic to come into contact with Cyborg and enter his systems, waking him up with a jolt. Her eyes stopped glowing, and she bore a hint of a smile on her face at the look of shock the big man gave her.

"What's going on?" Cyborg asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes.

"You and I seem to have fallen asleep by accident, friend, and we wish to continue working before we are interrupted," Starfire answered, smiling broadly.

"Oh, right," he said, obviously embarassed at having fallen asleep while working. He got up quickly and turned to his computers, while Terra hovered behind him, wondering what she could do to help. "Terra, could you help me get these sensors onto Raven and Star?" he asked, noticing her behind him.

"Absolutely," she said grinning, happy to be needed. An unhappy Raven was then fitted with all sorts of metal wires and chips and such, as was Starfire. Terra stepped back, admiring her work.

"Way to go, rock-n-roller!" Cyborg said, glad that Terra was helping him instead of Beast Boy, for at least she was able to get things done right the first time. Happily, she slapped him a high-five.

"Can we get this over with?" Raven asked, obviously uncomfortable.

"No problem. I'm already running the scans. All we have to do now is wait for the information to reach the computers and then process it," Cyborg said, running about the ward, trying to manage all the technology. Finally, a picture of Raven's and Starfire's bloodstreams appeared in front of them.

"Can we take this off now, then?" Raven asked.

"Sure thing. The information is now stored in the computer's memory. Go ahead," Cyborg replied absentmindedly, trying to zoom in on some irregularities in the bloodstreams.

"Great," Raven said nonchalantly as the scanning equipment glowed black and floated away from her, landing easily on the table farthest away. Meanwhile, Terra helped Starfire to remove her equipment as well.

"I think I've got something!" Cyborg said finally, stepping back to let the computer show the image, but as he did so, a loud alarm went off and the screens started blinking, blocking whatever he was about to show them.

"Trouble!" Starfire cried out, opening her communicator to see who was the perpetrator this time. The sudden, downcast look in her eyes told them all who it was: Robin.

"I'm coming with you this time," Raven said, rising up from her bed, but Cyborg shook his head.

"We don't know if you've completely healed yet, and I swore I wouldn't let you out until then," he said.

"You're going to let me out of here and let me help you!" she said, letting her voice rise a bit and her eyes glow black, throwing Cyborg off for a moment.

"O..okay," he replied meekly.

"Thanks, you're so cooperative. Besides, I can levitate if I can't walk, and I promise if my leg starts hurting, I'll take a breather, okay?" Raven said, letting her voice return to its normal monotone.

With that, the other three Titans left, leaving Starfire alone in the medical ward. She could hear Terra dragging Beast Boy out of his bed and the sound of the T-car driving away, then nothing. Sighing, she opened her communicator so that she could monitor the mission. If only they would have let her go as well. She was perfectly capable of fighting!

Casually, she looked over at the computer screen and noticed that the picture Cyborg had been about to show them was now loading. Waiting patiently, she finally saw the image: her blood stream was crawling with those Slade-dots! Despite her promise to Cyborg to stay in the bed, she flew over to the screen, and with a few quick keystrokes, she magnified the image. Those dots were...probes.

Rushing back to her laptop, she uploaded the image from before onto the screen. They were identical. These nanoprobes were inside them, but what were they capable of? With newfound hope that this case might be solved, she decided to run a few tests and figure this mystery out. First, though, she would monitor the mission from here, perhaps there was something new to be learned.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, or any related material, although the story idea is mine.

Chapter 7

His heart sunk when he saw that she was not with the other Titans. She must still have been in the medical ward. He didn't blame her, that blow to the head looked like it had hurt. As it was, it was already going to be a long, hard fight with a sore left arm, even if he could use it a little bit. The first to exit the car was Cyborg, then Raven. After a few seconds, Terra and Beast Boy exited as well, the former being dragged along by the blonde, for he was still quite sleepy.

His mission was supposed to have been simple: get in, steal the chip, get out, but something had gone wrong. Even though the information he had received said that the guards changed shifts at this time, one of them had lagged behind and spotted him, putting him in a situation in which he knew he would eventually have to fight his former friends, even if he did get past the guards easily. To this day, he still did not know why they bothered with those guards, it wasn't like they were very good at protecting the city. At this point, their job was basically to call in the Titans and high-tail it out of there.

Now he found himself facing his fomer friends as Cyborg cried out, "Titans, go!" As usual, he did not talk throughout the fighitng, and he could tell that Terra was peeved at this, for in his battle with her, he had been taunting her, and now he wasn't talking? He could just see the gears in her head turning as she threw a couple tons of rocks his way, which he dodged, but only just barely.

Raven seemed to be extremely edgey during this fight; maybe it was because Cyborg kept asking her if she was alright and if she would like to take a rest or something. Apparently, that broken leg was some damage. After firing several blasts of energy his way, she continued her rampage, throwing as many objects at him as she could get her powers around.

Beast Boy, as usual, did not speak during the fight, but rather changed immediately into a gorilla, smashing the ground inches away from Robin, throwing the former Boy Wonder off guard for a split second, giving Cyborg the chance to blast him with his sonic cannon. Though he flew backwards and smashed into the wall, he still managed to get back up and throw a few exploding discs at the bigger man. Unfortunately, he missed and they hit Beast Boy, who was instantly knocked out.

Taking advantage of the Titans' distraction, he ran up to higher ground where he hid for a moment, lingering to watch and see if his former friend was okay. He saw Terra run over to the injured boy, screaming his name as loud as she could. Desperately, she tried to wake him up, shaking him and yelling his name, but he remained limp. As he watched this display, he bit his lip, feeling extremely guilty that he was forced to do this to them. And now Slade knew that Terra had a soft spot for Beast Boy. No doubt the man would try to implement that. Finally, he saw Terra bend down and gently hugged the younger Titan. Beast Boy's eyes flew open and he reached out and hugged her back. At first Terra seemed surprised, but she gladly hugged him tighter, happy that he was once again conscious.

Sighing, he wished he didn't have to hide in caves to watch this interaction. Above all, he wished that he had someone to be there for him when he was down. He remembered the times before when he had been hurt, or even if he had just been feeling low, she had always come to his aid, pulling him out of the mists of misery in the nick of time. Back then...

Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him and saw Raven standing there, eyes glowing, her face contorted with anger that she was barely keeping surpressed. Her eyes were blazing, and he could see another pair of red eyes fighting to be seen. Obviously, the girl was angry, and he didn't want to know what happened next, so he ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction, but she materialized in front of him.

"You betrayed us, turned your back on all of us, and you never even told us why! Because of you, Starfire has locked herself in her room for the past year! She's determined to figure out why you left us, and she's slowly diminishing, and it's your fault! If you hadn't left us, none of this would have happened. Now she's in the medical ward, and it's all your fault! You've cause pain and agony every time we've seen you! You've turned into a monster!" How ironic that she would use that word- monster, for she was now sporting a second pair of eyes, and all four of these eyes were glowing red. Her mouth was contorted into a sinister grin as at least ten black arms reached out to grab him.

He saw the darkness suddenly as one of the dark hands encompassed him. This darkness was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. He couldn't breathe, couldn't see, couldn't hear anything. The only thing he was aware of was the acute pain in his chest as his heart thumped faster and faster. Then came the agony. His shoulder felt it first, as if it had been torn apart from his body. Then his lungs were being crushed so much so that he could not even gasp for the air that he so desperately needed. His insides were burning as if on fire, and his entire skin felt like tiny needles. This was worse torture than he had ever endured before, even under Slade!

"Raven, stop!" he gasped, trying to reach the girl inside of the madness. He had never known Raven to have the heart to kill, and he hoped that she wouldn't now either, though she seemed desperately close to it. He threw an electric disc into the darkness; it must have hit her, because there was a roar of surprise and he was dropped onto the floor. Gasping for cool, sweet air, he pulled himself back up onto his feet. His uniform was badly torn and he was missing an entire sleeve, baring his injured left shoulder. Shaking his head to regain his senses, he crawled back into the dark recesses of the cave, not daring to look back to see if she was still there.

"Raven?" asked Cyborg's voice from the front of the cave. Holding his breath in anticipation, he waited to see if she would leave.

"Cyborg?" It was Raven's voice- her real voice. She had, thankfully, reverted back to normal. "He's here. I just fought him. I think I might have overdone it."

Knowing that Cyborg would try to find him, he turned and crawled into the very back of the cave. This was the very reason he had chosen this particular cave to hide in to watch; there was a back entrance to the lair from here. He heard the footsteps drawing near as he rounded the corner. He placed his hand on a particular rock. This rock slid down into the earth, opening a hidden door. With what pride and strength he had left, he leaped through the door, listening with satisfaction as it shut, ensuring his escaped. He really didn't want to have another bout with Raven.

"Are you sure he was here, Rae? All I see is rocks!" He could hear Cyborg's voice echoing through the cave. He let go of his breath all at once, sighing in relief, finally safe from his former friends.

"I'm certain, Cyborg. Look everywhere, he may be hiding," Raven's monotone voice resounded behind the wall of rock. He held his breath, hoping that they didn't find the secret entrance. Before, he would have been happy if they could have found him and Slade's hidout, but in his current condition he would have been destroyed before they even noticed where they were.

As if on cue, there was a beeping noise on the other side. "Trouble! Come on, Rae, we'd better get going." This was perhaps the first time he had ever been happy to hear them leave, even if it meant that they wouldn't be able to find Slade's hideout now.

After he was sure that the danger had passed, he looked himself over, noting ruefully that his shoulder wound had been re-opened. With his good hand, he pulled himself through the lair, trying his best to push the memory to the back of his mind, trying not to think about the truth of Raven's words. Everything that had occurred truly was his fault, and he knew it.

"That looked like it was painful," sneered a voice, that annoying, overly-confident voice that he so despised. He was too tired and discouraged to glare at the man, so he just trudged up to his room, where he collapsed on the bed, curling up in a ball as the fullness of the events hit him full on. It was such a horrible experience, and he hardly dared think about. Still, he could not get the image of those glowing eyes out of his mind.

A sudden knock at the door alerted him to Wintergreen's presence. The old butler had brought him a change of clothes and some bandages along with the normal lunch. "Thank you," he said quietly, the first words he had ever spoken to the old man. Wintergreen's eyes lit up and he smiled a true, unhidden smile, happy that the boy was learning _something _good from his master- respect.

He waited for the old butler to leave before he sat down to eat and bandage his wounds. It was indeed painful, both phsychologically and physically, to have been attacked by someone who he had once been so close to, someone he would have trusted with his life in a previous life. There were times that he would feel so close to his old life, only to have his reverie broken by those he had once been proud to call his friends.

There was no training that day, obviously. What good would it have done him to try and fight when he barely had the strength to stand and walk around his tiny room? He stared out the window towards the tower that shone even during the daytime. He wondered what was going on within those walls; whether Starfire was conscious yet, whether they had figured out the mystery of why he had deserted them, and he wondered whether or not they would accept him back if he did escape.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, or any related material, although the story idea is mine.

Chapter 8

She watched the whole thing via her communicator, and she was pretty angry at Raven towards the end. She had no idea how badly he had been hurt since her communicator screen had gone black during Raven's fit of rage. She's make sure when her friend got back to give the girl a stern talking to. She signalled Cyborg on his communicator while the Titans were driving to the latest crime scene.

"Cyborg, friend, please make haste with this mission. I have discovered something that you must look at," she said, not caring that her voice was tinted with urgency, gaining her some strange looks from the others.

"What is it? I have time, we won't be there for at least two more minutes. If you can explain it all in that time, I'm all ears," her friend replied, his grinning face filling up her screen.

"I have just discovered something alarming in the bloodstreams of both Raven and myself. Doubtless they are also present within your own bodies if they are in ours. Do you recall the small black dot with Slade's insignia on it that I pointed out to you yesterday during you short stay in the medical ward of our tower?" she paused in her explanation to let him answer the question.

"You mean that little bitty thing that I still can't believe you even noticed at all? Yeah, I remember that, why? Did you find out what it is?" Cyborg said, his voice no longer holding the teasing, happy tone that it normally did.

"Unfortunately, friend, I have. The black dot to which you refer is in fact a probe, one of thousands that reside within our bloostreams. I have scanned them to measure what they are capable of, and I have found some frightening things. These probes have the capability to destroy us at will," she said, pausing to let the effect of her words sink in then waiting patiently as there was silence at the other end.

Beast Boy's face appeared on the screen next to Cyborg's, a look of...seriousness?...on his face, something she hadn't seen in a long time, but perhaps that was because she never spent much time with her friends anymore. As soon as this was over, she would be sure to fix that. He then asked, "What do wierd little probes have to do with anything?"

She sighed, a bit annoyed with the changeling's ignorance, than continued. "These probes have been inside of our bodies since that mission, the one where he left us," she bit her lip at the memory, leaving an akward silence between them.

"You mean you finally figured out what that ray thingy was that hit us?" Beast Boy asked, his eyes wide in anticipation.

Raven's face appeared beneath the boys' faces, looking rather cross. "Yes, you dolt! Don't you get what this means? With this technology to control us in Slade's hands, he has the power to destroy us whenever he wants to."

She nodded, glad that somebody understood, finally. "Unless Robin does whatever he says." She let this sentence hang in the air, waiting for her friends to respond. Would they accept this? If they were to rid themselves of the probes, would they even be able to get Robin back at all? Would they ever be able to trust him again after all that he had done in this past year? Whatever happened, things would never be the same between them, but at least she would have him back.

"So you mean Robin's been on our side this whole time?" Beast Boy said, his tone loaded with disbelief.

"That doesn't make sense. Wouldn't he have fought back, you know, tried to get the control from Slade?" Cyborg butted in, still not sure if he was ready to believe this, ready to forgive his former friend of so many haneous acts.

"Doubtless he tried his very best. Do you not remember the Robin that we knew in times past? He was never willing to put us in harm's way without putting up some sort of fight. Do you think he did not fight back?" she argued, hoping she could talk some sense into these people.

"Yeah, don't you remember that time we fought him and he had a couple scratch marks all over his face that I know we didn't put there?" Beast Boy butted in.

"Exactly," she said, glad somebody else was catching on.

Terra finally appeared on the screen. "Um, I know I don't know Robin as well as you guys did, but from this conversation, I can probably tell you that Robin fought back and that he's still loyal to you. I suggest that when we get back, you guys figure out a way to get rid of those probes before we have to fight him again. I'm still having repercussions from the last time," she said, trying to end the conversation before anybody could say anything else, for she was obviously uncomfortable with the subject of somebody she had never really known except in newspaper clippings here and there, especially many years ago when she had wandered the streets in Gotham for a few weeks.

On the other end, she could hear the sounds of the T-car stopping and doors opening. One by one, the faces of the Titans disappeared until Cyborg was the only one left, his face smiling in encouragement as he said, "Don't worry, Star. We'll get him back, I promise." With that, the screen went blank.

She fell back against the pillow, frustrated at her predicament. She hated not being able to do anything, being stuck in this stupid room for so long. Why wouldn't they let her leave? She was perfectly capable of moving about now that she was conscious. They were being overly protective. To pass the time, she watched the recordings of the recent mission, the one in which Raven had lost control, before she finally spotted something. He had been present at the cave, but then vanished. There must have been a hidden exit somewhere in those dark recesses. She hopped out of the bed, but remembered that Cyborg had locked the door from the outside. Frustrated, she blasted a hole in the window. Let them deal with that petty criminal, whoever it was. She was going to find Slade's hideout. Maybe she could save Robin before they even got back. At any rate, she wasn't going to just sit here and do nothing! Flying with new resolve, she flew towards the cave where she had an overwhleming feeling that she would find Robin. Unfortunately, she conveniently had forgotten that the probes were still lodged within her...


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, or any related material, although the story idea is mine.

Thanks to everybody who responded. I'll do my best to write as much as possible these next few days, because I'm leaving town for Thanksgiving and I might not be able to write for a while. Sorry.

dIsky: One chapter at a time? Allrighty then!

Chapter 9

He sat, still trying to collect his thoughts as he reviewed the recent events in his minds. He had been attacked by one of his former best friends, and he was now battered and bruised because of it. The thoughts and emotions crowded his head as he tried to make sense of it all. He was still having trouble thinking clearly, but who could blame him? He was still trying to recover from being attacked by...whatever that thing was that had possessed Raven.

Every time he closed his eyes, he could see the darkness, and this was preventing him from sleep. The experience was haunting him and probably would for the next little while. Blowing out his breath in frustration, he realized that this was going to mark his mind for some time to come. None of this would have happened if he hadn't gotten into this situation in the first place! Scowling, he crossed his arms in frustration, though this only caused him more pain; it was still tough to move after what had just transpired.

On top of everything, Slade wanted to continue training in about an hour. How was he supposed to do that? What was he going to do, stare the obstacles to death? That'd certainly do it...

At least she hadn't been there to see the whole thing. If she had, she would without a doubt have been pretty angry at Raven. He could tell that she didn't want to fight him or beat him, merely to deter him. She was probably the only Titan at this point that didn't hate his guts, and he knew it. He certainly wished that she would hurry up and find those cursed probes!

All of a sudden, he heard the soft pitter patter of footsteps outside of his room and he peered out his so-called window to see what was going on. It was Starfire, out and about by herself, running towards the site he had just recently escaped from. What was she doing there? What was she doing out of the hospital, for that matter? For a moment, he allowed himself a sliver of hope that it might be something related to him, but his dismal side dismissed the thought. If it was related to him, it probably wasn't a good thing, anyways.

He watched her running and noticed how shaky her breathing was. Her eyes were a bit larger than he remembered them and she seemed desperate, a look of determination on her face. Then she did something he had never seen her do for almost an entire year- she began to fly. Not just to hover either, but she rose high into the air, taking a good look at the world from a bird's point of view. Wondering what could have possibly possessed her to leave the medical ward and start flying, he brought his bed closer to the window so that he could kneel comfortably as he watched.

She seemed to be looking for something, he noted with anticipation as she searched the previous battlefield. Secretly, he hoped she would find it, that she would discover the entrance in the caves, but even if she did, she was in no condition to fight, nor was he for that matter. Surely she could keep a good head and wait for backup before trying to go after Slade herself. He winced at that thought. Why didn't he do that? Looking back, there were so many ways that he could have done it differently, and now he was seeing that mirrored in her. It was quite the hard pill to swallow.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he had forgotten to keep track of the time. Disappointment coursed through his thoughts as a voice interrupted his spying. The voice, Slade of course, commanded him to report immediately. Sighing, he pulled himself back up on to his feet, trying to figure out what he was going to do about this. Sooner or later, Starfire was going to find them.

He walked down the hallway slowly and thoughtfully, immersed in his worries and thoughts. As he did so, he passed Wintergreen, who shot him a puzzled look as he passed. No doubt the old butler was wondering why in the world he was suddenly so lost in thought. Normally, he was just down and depressed. He smiled, which puzzled the butler even more, but he kept walking anyway.

Training with Slade was never easy. Usually it involved a lot of physical pain as well as five or six million taunts thrown into the lot, but he was so lost in thought he doubted the taunts would even be heard. Right now it was the fighting that concerned him. Even as he assumed a stance, he could feel the pain coursing through his lower back, and he knew it was going to be a long session. The two opponents faced each other and went at it.

Slade moved first, throwing a quick punch straight towards his face. Luckily, instincts kicked in and he was able to dodge the blow, even delivering a swift kick to the taller man's side. The blow did not come without a price, though, for his facial features were soon contorted with pain as his lungs tried to take in more air. The past fight had weakened him internally. His lungs had not fully recovered from the near suffocation. He was going to run out of stamina a lot sooner than he'd like. He side-stepped a punch, then ducked behind a nearby pillar to catch his breath.

He played defensively most of the time, making sure to keep his mouth shut the entire time, not wanting to waste any of his precious breath on taunting. So far he had managed to avoid any hard blows, although he had been in some close calls and he already bore a few bruises from lighter blows. Knowing that he was unable to fight offensively in his condition, he used his surroundings as tools, most of these pillars and machines were taking quite a beating from the blows that were supposed to be his.

Unfortunately, the fight was taking its toll. Perhaps if he had been allowed to heal for a while longer his lungs might not have been so weak and he could have given Slade a real fight, but this was not the case, and he was starting to feel it. His breathing became shorter and there was now a permanent pain in his chest from the labor it was just to breath. This gave Slade many golden opportunities. With no way to fight back without weakening himself, he soon found himself in the middle of a brutal beating. Left, right, left, right, the punches kept coming, and this time they were hitting their mark. Within the next few minutes, he was a bruised and battered mess. The only thoughts that his mind held were of pain, there was no room for anything else. This seemed to be a recurring theme in his life lately, he noticed ruefully as he attempted to get back up, but failed.

The blows kept coming, even though he could not fight back. He was a human punching bag now, suffering blow after blow to his sides, limbs, and a couple to his head. After what seemed like at least ten minutes, the blows ceased, and he could faintly hear a voice scoff, "Pathetic." Had he possessed the strength, he would have growled in response, but he couldn't even think clearly anymore. His life had fallen apart all in the space of a single year, and now he lay here, a miserable youth wasted by the evil doings of this man. Now, more than ever, he wanted to get out of this life.


	10. Chapter 10

Thank you, one and all to those who replied. I am working hard to updat as soon as possible.

dIsky: You hit right on the mark of where I was trying to go with Slade. I'm impressed. Most other places I post this, people don't get that. You must be a very deep thinker. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Again, thank you all and here's the next chapter I'm sure you're all anticipating! ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, or any related material, although the story idea is mine.

Chapter 10

This was a new experience for her, feeling the joy of flight. It had been so long since she could feel such a happy feeling, the joy of flight. In fact, she hadn't been able to truly enjoy it for the past ten months. She hoped that she would find time to do it again, for she had long since forgotten what a beautiful view it was. The city twinkled like the stars she enjoyed in her time out in space. Views like this made her homesick at times for her home planet where the air was crisp and clean and she had no trouble viewing the stars at night.

What was most amazing was the speed at which she was now able to travel. Before, when she was merely walking, she could not travel at the speed of light. Granted, she could not do so now in her current condition, but she was able to get close. Everything was so beautiful up here, but she wasn't just here for the sights. She was here to find that cave and infiltrate a lair and save her best friend.

For a moment, she thought she heard a soft grunt below her as she touched down to scan the area, but it must have been the wind, for she could not see anything otherwise that would suggest another presence here. Lighting the way with a single starbolt, she wandered through the area until she reached the one cave she was looking for and went inside.

The entrance to the cave was scorch marked and she flinched at what she knew had occurred here, but she kept walking. At several points, she stopped and gasped at the damage that Raven had done. In one area, the rocks were completely burnt to a crisp. In another area, she could see many cracks in the wall from impact. She tried not to think about who or what had hit the wall as she passed it.

As she walked down into the deeper recesses of the cave, it became harder and harder for her to see, even with the light her starbolt provided her. The darkness was complete, almost swallowing her up in its depths. She shivered slightly at how dismal this place was. It seemed to her to be reflecting the dark things that had happened within its walls.

Suddenly, she walked underneath some small creatures she had not seen before. They emitted strange sounds, almost like high-pitched chirps; perhaps they were some new type of birds? No such luck. The creatures were disturbed by her starbolt and they began flying out of the cave, surrounding her as they flew on the rampage. Their wings were leathery and the sounds she had heard before were louder than before, hurting her ears. She recognized the shapes of the creatures from a picture she had once seen on a newspaper, back when she had first met Robin. They were called...bats or some such strange name.

Stumbling around, she tripped over a rock and fell to the ground, her starbolt going out as she hit the ground. What was that rock doing in the middle of nowhere? She went to move it out of her way so that she didn't trip over it on her way back, but it wouldn't budge. She created another starbolt, this one bigger, to see what was wrong with this stone. It had a metallic glow to it; it definitely wasn't normal. On a hunch, she decided to push down harder on it, and it moved into the ground, revealing a large metal door a few feet away.

Her eyes lit up in anticipation; this was the break she had been waiting for! With intense feelings of anticipation, she opened the door, a feat any normal person would not have been able to do by force as she was able to do. As it were, she already had to use every drop of strength she had to get the door to open enough for her to slip inside. Slade sure had this place well protected and hidden. She felt a little bit better about not being able to have found it before.

She let her feet leave the ground, knowing that if she were to walk in this place, she ran the risk of being heard, for the entire lair was metallic and any and all footsteps would surely echo. Now her greatest challenge was finding her friend. She hugged the ceiling, not wanting to take any chances now that she had gotten this far. Luckily, she would not have to look far to find him.

After a few minutes, she noticed a figure laying on the ground, spiky hair matted to his head with sweat and breathing irregular. Startled to see him in this condition, she glanced quickly around to make sure that nobody could see her, then softly touched down beside him. Tears formed in her eyes as she scanned the boy. He was absolutely covered in bruises and scratches. It hurt her heart to see him this way. At least when she was fighting him he had the familiar air of confidence and composure, but this Robin was dejected and hurt and sorrowful.

"Robin?" She took the risk of speaking out loud. She needed to make sure that he was conscious, wanted to know for herself that he would survive. "Who did this to you? Was Raven's attack truly this bad? What happened? Please speak with me!" She attempted to keep her voice down to a whisper, but she was finding that this was near impossible to do, for she was choking on her tears.

She put her hand on his shoulder, trying to feel if he was breathing. He shuddered unconsciously at her touch, and she retracted her hand for a moment, not sure what to do next. Finally, she picked his head up and put it in her lap, letting her tears fall onto his cheeks as she struggled inwardly. It was so painful to see him this way, especially after so many hours of anticipation, dreams of this moment when she would help him escape.

"Star?" She looked down to see him smiling up at her. He was awake! With newfound joy, she gathered his head up in her arms and hugged him, glad to see that he was at least conscious. What she couldn't see was the urgency in those eyes behind his mask. She didn't know it, but he was afraid for her, scared that Slade would catch her here.

"It is wonderful to see that you are awake!" she whispered back to him, and his smile broadened at this.

"You have to get out of here!" He said, gasping for breath afterwards. She cocked her head to one side. Leave? Why would she leave his side now that she had finally been reunited with him?

"I will not leave you again, Robin. I am going to get you out of here!" she said, pulling him up into a sitting position and holding him up with her arms.

"It's too dangerous!" he said, trying to move away, but he did not have the strength.

"I do not care. I know the risks. I found the probes within my body," she said, trying to comfort him, to let him know that everything was going to be okay.

"So, you got rid of them?"

She paused. In her hurry to find him, she had forgotten to rid herself of the probes. "Um..."

"It's not safe for you here as long as those probes are there," he said, trying to get up himself, but he still had not completely regained the use of his limbs yet.

The two heard footsteps approaching, and he pushed her arms off of his shoulders, motioning her away, saying, "Go. If he finds you here it won't be good for either of us!"

She crossed her arms. "I am staying."

He shook his head slightly as he swayed in his place, falling back over. "Ouch. Listen to me! Leave now!"

Sadly, she heeded his advice and flew into the nearby hallway, not a moment to soon. As she rounded the corner, she heard the sound of a door being opened in the other room. Secretly, she vowed to return with all the other Titans. They would rescue him. They had to.


	11. Chapter 11

This chapter has my favorite dialogue so far. Again, thanks all for responding, and, true to my word, I am working hard to get more updated. I have been working on it during classes (shh, don't tell! ;) haha) and I think I did a pretty good job of it, too. This chapter is a bit short, though, sorry about that. I have all the chapters planned out, I just need to type them up and edit them, so I know what I'm saying when I reassure everybody that it gets longer and more interesting. So, have at it and don't be afraid to tell me how bad it is:)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, or any related material, although the story idea is mine.

Chapter 11

It was both a joyful and depressing feeling to see her again. While he was amazed that she had found him, he was saddened that he could not help her in his current state. He knew she only wanted to help him and to save him from this life, but with the probes still there, he was helpless to do anything. Inwardly, he had hoped against hope that he could have done something.

Still, it was a wonderful thing to see those beautiful green eyes filled with joy instead of depression. Even as he heard someone enter, he could not get the picture of her face out of his mind, and he was aware that he bore a wide smile, probably confusing whoever it was that had entered. He wasn't sure who it was yet, he couldn't see anything from his position on the floor.

Thankfully, it was only Wintergreen. The kindly old man offered him a leg up, and he soon found himself hobbling down the hallway, leaning on the kindly butler for support until he reached his room. He then collapsed onto the bed, but not before giving Wintergreen an appreciative smile. This flimsy cot was so much better than that hard ground he had been face-flat on for the past half hour.

He let his thoughts drift again. His mind clouded over with questions. How did she find him? When did she find out about the probes? Why did she come alone? Would the Titans accept him back? Frustrated, he blew out his breath and tried to clear his mind. All he could think about were those deep pools of green that had held so much concern and hope for his sake.

Obviously, she cared for him a great deal. As soon as this was over, he would make sure to tell her everything. As soon as he had the strength, he would fight by her side to conquer Slade. Together they would vanquish this foe. He could already picutre the scene in his mind's eye: he and Starfire would attack without mercy, giving Slade no chance to retaliate. Soon they would be together permanently.

There was always the question of when, of course. He knew that he would have to heal before there was any possibilty for him to fight, or even to defend himself for that matter. With a great sigh, he closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep. For the next few days, it would be essential for him to regain his health and his composure. After today's beating, he was sure that he wouldn't be the same for some time to come.

Unfortunately, he was still tormented with the day's events and his mind was too filled to allow him to drift into even the most uneasy sleep. Whenever he closed his eyes, he could see glowing red eyes and steel boots. Of course, he could also see green eyes filled with love and hope and he could see the hopeful way that she flew through the air. Either way, it took him several hours to fall asleep.

He awoke with a start the next morning. At first there was elation. She had come for him at last! Then, there was depression and sorrow. As much as he wanted to believe that it had happened, there was always a sneaking suspicion that it was a dream, a mere figment of his imagination. Oh, but he wanted so badly to know that it was real! She had said that she'd come back, so he would just have to wait until then.

He ate as much as he could that morning and began to stretch his limbs. His breathing had almost returned to normal; the sleep must have strengthened them. Thus he had no problems with endurance in his exercises as he tested each muscle to be certain that it would move. He wished that his body would hurry up and heal so that he could be ready for her return.

Wintergreen had obviously noticed the difference in his manner and appearance. He kept his hair neat and clean, but still in his trademark spikes the way he liked it. He bore a smile on his face most of the time, except when he moved a sore muscle or when a new round of pain racked his body. Doubtless, the old butler wondered what was going through his mind, and he kind of enjoyed the looks of confusion that Wintergreen kept shooting his way. Maybe after everything was said and done the old butler would understand why he was so happy.

He spent the entire day exercising and stretching and...smiling! His day seemed to go by more quickly than he needed. Even while fighting some of Slade's robots, he still managed to keep a joyful demeanor, though he chose not to show it around Slade, surely that would bring unnecessary attention and suspicion his way. By the time his day was through, he had never once lost his happiness.

"Pardon me, young master, may I venture a question?"

His head shot up. He'd never heard that voice before, or for that matter, ever expected to hear that voice-ever. It was Wintergreen, standing in the doorway, holding a dinner plate and wearing a very confused expression. After a moment of hesitation, he replied nonchalantly. "Ask away."

"Perhaps I am mistaken, but your demeanor seems to have changed. What is the cause of this sudden optimism?"

He shook his head. Wintergreen must have been really curious. These were the first words he had ever heard the old butler speak. After thinking it through and deciding what he could trust the old butler with, he replied, "If I were to go throughout this life in a constant state of depression, it would deteriorate my health and I would never be able to get out of here."

Wintergreen shrugged, taking this as an acceptable answer, but he could tell behind those wise eyes that the butler knew there was something more to it. He sighed inwardly. Of all the people to have to keep secrets from! He watched as Wintergreen exited, then sat down to enjoy his food, scarfing absolutely everything down. Oddly enough, he wondered if the butler would miss him when he was gone.


	12. Chapter 12

All right, I'm back from Thanksgiving break with the next chapter. Sorry to keep you waiting.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, or any related material, although the story idea is mine.

Chapter 12

She had stumbled back into the tower without a moment to spare, for the second she had fallen into bed, the door burst open and an angry Cyborg came rushing inside, his sonic cannon at the ready as he scanned the room. In as innocent a voice as she could muster, she asked, "What troubles you, friend? Is there an intruder I should be aware of?"

Her buttery-sweet tone threw him off. How could she not notice the huge gaping hole in the window? What was wrong with her? "I saw the broken window on our way back to the tower and assumed that somebody had tried to get in," he said, his cheeks turning a bit pink upon finding that there was no danger after all. He lowered his sonic cannon with his head held low.

"Oh, do not be troubled. I see the hole quite clearly. I made it," she said, trying to use as gentle a tone as she could so as not to anger the already edgey Titan.

"You did what? Alright, explanation time, missy!" As Cyborg said this, Terra and Beast Boy edged into the room beside him, eager to know what had happened. As they did so, Starfire noticed Beast Boy take Terra's hand and lead her in like a gentleman. It was somewhat amusing, the way those two flirted so openly.

"My apologies for the window, friend, but you see, the door was not opening and I did not wish to destroy it, so I chose to exit through the window instead," she said matter-of-factly, as if there should have been no problems with such actions.

"Wait a minute! You left?" Cyborg's jaw dropped and his eyes flashed in anger.

"Yes, I believe she just said that," said Raven, who had appeared just behind the big man, curious as to what was going on. "Go on, Star, tell us what happened."

Taking a deep breath, she began to relate the tale to her friends. "I had discovered what Raven noticed back in the caves. Robin was there, and then he simply vanished. Since you all were a bit preoccupied with another mission, I took it upon myself to investigate the cave myself, and I found the most interesting thing there." She paused, letting the air become dense with suspense as the Titans waited for her to continue. "After being attacked by bats, at least I believe that is what they are called, I tripped over a large stone and thus stumbled upon the trigger to opening a secret door to Slade's lair."

"I told you he was somewhere in that cave," Raven said triumphantly to Cyborg, who glared back at her. "Anyway, continue," Raven added before Cyborg had the chance to retort.

"What I found there was most startling and eye-opening, for I found Robin, tattered and bruised after an encounter with a certain member of the team, and I am sure after Slade had his way with our friend..."

"Our friend?" Cyborg interrupted suddenly. "Not former friend? You mean he really is on our side? You know for sure?"

"Friend, please do not interrupt me. But if you must know, yes, he is loyal to us. He insisted on my leaving to keep Slade from discovering me. When I found him, he was in no condition to fight back anyway..." her voice trailed off. It was such a painful memory, to see his battered figure after a year of pain and lost hopes only to have them crushed by the fact that he was unable to assist her.

"What happened? Is he okay? Did I hurt him to badly?" Raven suddenly perked up, obviously sorry that she had lost control and curious as to how badly her anger had effected him.

"Oh, do not worry, friend, he was conscious...after a while at least...but do not trouble yourself about it! The point is, friends, that we now know where he is and we will be able to save him now! He is hurt badly currently and it will be too much to ask him to assist us now, but perhaps if we wait, find out a way to eject these probes from our systems, we will have bought him enough time!" Her face lit up, showing to the others how much she cared, how badly she wanted to succeed.

Standing up, Cyborg put his hand out in a gesture of helpfulness. "Even though you broke your promise and still left without my permission, I'd be happy to help you figure out a way to get these blasted contraptions out of our bodies. You've got yourself a partner!"

Smiling, she took his hand, returning his broad grin and shook it, secretly feeling an overwhelming feeling of joy that she feared would overcome her entire body. They were taking the first steps to finally taking action to save him. Soon she would once again hold him in her arms, and this time she would never let him go again!

Because Terra was the only one who did not have the probes within her, she helped Cyborg get all the equipment together and helped Raven into it. Though she was obviously disdainful and did not want to be anywhere near all that stuff that would go into her body, Raven allowed them to suit her up, deciding it was better to get this over with first. Cyborg gave a full commentary while Raven kept her back turned to the screen, not wanting to have anything to do with this other than getting these things out as soon as possible.

"So, what happens if I have to use the bathroom?" she asked nonchalantly, starling everybody present, especially after she laughed and said, "Just kidding."

After at least two hours, she was finally finished, and she gladly shed the annoying suit. Unfortunately, they were all extremely tired from the day's work; two missions and a bunch of research to try to get rid of the probes! So, they agreed to take a breather for the night, but only after she had their word that they would continue first thing in the morning. She was too excited to let this oppurtunity pass. She just couldn't wait!


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

He ran swiftly over the rooftops, just wanting this to be over. He should have known that Slade would use his recovery against him, of course. No joy lasted long in his depressing life, but he hoped that this was soon to change. As he jumped over another rooftop, he heard his name being called out. He landed gracefully onto the rooftop he had been headed for, then turned, assuming a fighting stance as he did so. He could see the surprise in her eyes at his quick recovery. Often times he had proven that he was a fast healer, had she not remembered? He smiled back at her inconspicuously as if to say, "I'm fine. I can take care of myself."

She seemed to get his message, for she winked back, but then changed attitudes completely to keep anyone who could be watching, namely Slade, from suspecting anything. "Teen Titans, go!" She cried, charging up her starbolts.

The fight went as any fight before, except this time he had rocks from Terra to worry about. The blonde girl didn't seem to have such a hard time fighting him. He wondered whether Starfire had asked them to be this hard on him. He certainly had a hard time dodging everything, though he did notice that he was gaining more ground and that he was reaching the edge of the roof. Jumping quickly, he gained a greater distance between them and they soon began a chase across the rooftops of Jump City.

He reached the final building and jumped off the edge. His grappling hook- oh, how he missed his birdarang, at least it was easier to launch- caught hold of something and he was stopped a few inches from the ground. He then let his feet touch the ground and undid the rope, proceeding then to continue running, trying to avoid a conflict. Unfortunately, Terra flew in his path and blocked his escape route. He had no choice now but to fight them. "I though they understood that I'm on their side!" he thought, frustrated a bit by the actions of his former team.

"If you came looking for another fight, you've definitely found one!" Terra growled, her hands lighting up with the glowing yellow aura he knew so well. He sighed. Apparently, they were going to have to do this the hard way, although he would much rather have done it differently...

With a sudden yell, he lept behind the blonde, catching her by surprise as her rock slipped out from underneath her, sending her crashing onto the ground. She got back up, obviously angry, and summoned some more rocks, throwing each rock within a second of the one before it, making it extremely hard for him to dodge, but he managed, somehow, maybe his optimism was helping his health. With a suppressed smile, he watched as the others joined Terra a few moments later, each assuming their trademark fighting stance.

Shaking his head in both frustration and admiration, he charged forward, heading first for Terra, for she seemed to be the one that was able to surprise him most. Perhaps that was because he had never gotten to know her, never had the privelege of training with her and becoming her friend. With any luck, he would change that within a few days. In the meantime, though, he had five superpowered teens that he had to deal with right now, so now was not the time for reflection.

With a swift kick, he knocked Terra off her platform of rocks then headed for Beast Boy, who had already transformed into a raptor, and blinded him with a disc. The two collapsed onto each other, and when they had shaken off their dizziness, they were too embarassed to move for a while. He then fought hand-to-hand with Cyborg, at the same time watching out for his powerful sonic cannon. In the excitement, he almost didn't notice Raven powering up, but her traditional "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" gave her away and he was able to duck the incoming pavement at the last second.

"Good, apprentice, you're doing much better than the last time," said Slade's voice in his ear. He let out a frustrated sigh. Somebody was enjoying themselves. He rolled his eyes, glad his mask was there to cover it up, then continued fighting.

Starfire tended to stay out of frays most of the time, but today she seemed to be a bit cocky and overexcited, for she began rapidly firing starbolts at him, throwing him off balance as he tried to avoid these green blasts. One of them connected with his side, and he went flying backwards into a trash can. Not pleasant. Picking himself back up, he resumed his trademark stance, ready for them once more.

"The fight would probably go more in your favor if you used that thermal blaster that you've had for a while and yet have managed not to use it for about eight months straight. It could probably help you," Slade's voice said, half-musing. The tone of his voice changed to a harsh one, though, when he ordered, "Use it."

He tried to ignore the order; he could get along without the blaster, and besides, he didn't want to hurt them too badly anyway. Fighting on, he tried to put it out of his mind, but that was increasingly hard to do with a cold voice telling him over and over to do it. He was starting to get fed up with this.

Starfire suddenly flew up in front of him, her hand glowing with a dangerously large starbolt. Her eyes were filled with tears as she said, "I cannot permit you to pass. The technology which you have stolen is extremely dangerous and in the wrong hands it could be devastating. It is my duty to keep you from leaving with it in your possession." Even as she said this, her eyes portrayed a different message: "I'm sorry, but I have to do this. I wish I didn't have to, but I do."

"I gave you an order, and unless you obey, you may very soon find yourself without anybody to fight." The threat was enough to wake Robin back up to reality and, wincing, he charged up the blaster.

The two stared at each other for some time. The scene was all too familiar. On a night about a year ago, his second mission as Slade's apprentice, she and he had stared each other down. He had not lowered his weapon, though, and had been forced to fire upon her. This was also the day that Beast Boy ceased to talk to him and that Raven decided to go completely offensive in her attacks. He didn't want another such incident, but he couldn't bring himself to watch her being torn apart from the inside out by those probes... It was such a hard decision.

Their eyes locked, and they held each others' gaze for some time, neither wanting to lower their defenses, yet neither wanting to be the first to attack. It pained him so that those pools of green that had been so full of innocent joy just a night ago were now filled with anguish and indecision. Her lower lip was quivering; it was obviously hurting her internally to have to fight him after the revelation of why he was working against her and after she and he had had such a wonderful reunion.

Suddenly, she lowered her arm, just as she had done on that day before. "Robin, I cannot bring myself to harm you, not now. If it is required of you to do so to me, then so be it, but I do not wish to do so to you."

His eyes widened in surprise. This wasn't the speech he was expecting. There was true pain in her eyes, yes, but there was also hope and love in those giant pools of absolute beauty. After much indecision, he lowered his weapon as well. He couldn't bring himself to cause her pain either, especially not now, of all times.

Suddenly, a piercing pain coarsed through his head as Slade screamed in his ear. "I gave you and order and now you disobey me? If you insist..." And in the lair, a gloved finger pushed the button.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

As she waited for his response to her speech, she saw him grab his head as if in pain. Confused, she went to put her hand on his shoulder to ask him what Slade had done to hurt him now, but she was stopped dead in her tracks by a sudden, odd sensation. It started in the pit of her stomach as a sudden lurch in her insides, as if she were about to vomit, but then it spread to the rest of her body. She watched as if from afar as her already orange-tinted skin became a darker hue of orange spotted with areas of white as well. Then came the pain.

Everything was on fire. Her arms were as stone and even her eyelids were heavy. She couldn't think; all she knew was this coursing pain that ran through her veins and around her. She grasped her stomach and pulled with her arms, trying to eliminate the source of the pain, but it was coming from inside of her, and no inch of her was spared. Her hands shook with the dreadful pain as she tried to remain conscious. Faintly, she was aware that she had lost the will to fly and that she was going to drop, but she couldn't think. Almost as if in a dream, she could feel two hand catching her and a voice, a melodious voice, crying into the night. "Stop! No!"

It faintly registered to her. The probes. This was what they were capable of doing. It was no wonder to her now that Robin had gone to such great lengths to spare them from this torture; it was a horrible fate. She tried to clear her mind, tried to think logically about what was happening, but all she was able to focus on besides the pain was the face that she could faintly make out that looked down at her. Those masked eyes showed no emotion, though she could tell by his facial features that he was also in pain, not pain like she was experiencing, the physical pain, but emotional pain, the kind that one can never escape from, not even through death. She tried to work her mouth, to find some sort of inner strength with which to speak, to tell him that she would be okay. All she could manage was one word: "Robin."

As she looked on, he bit his lip, obviously fighting back a year's worth of tears, perhaps even more, as he tried to find the words to say to her. "I'm sorry," was all she could discern. He seemed to be repeating that phrase over and over again as he set her down. Then, she saw a red flash, then nothing.

Her eyes slowly opened, she was alive? Rolling over, she saw Terra standing beside her on a rock and Raven floating above Beast Boy and Cyborg, trying to wake them up as well. "Where...? What...?" She couldn't form the questions just yet, but Terra knew what she was trying to ask.

"He's gone. Cyborg told Raven to act like she was in pain so that Slade wouldn't suspect that we had discovered the probes. Unfortunately, Raven isn't a good actress, so she just chose to create a huge black force field around herself and, accidentally, me. She just stood in the middle, moving it in and out, making it seize up and swell, so that it looked like she was in pain. I didn't get to see anything else, but then I could hear Beast Boy saying, "What just happened?" and then silence. Raven and I figured that since he was talking, the probes' attack was over and that it was safe to come out now, and when we did, we found all of you out cold. There was no sign of Robin, either. Whatever just happened, it was the weirdest thing that I've ever experienced," Terra said, her voice growing quite distant as she remembered the strange happenings and wondered what had happened outside of that black force field.

Terra helped Starfire onto a rock and they gently flew back down to the ground to meet the others. Cyborg and Beast Boy looked just as weak as she felt, while Raven seemed distant and a bit frightened.

"Can somebody please explain to me what happened?" Beast Boy was screaming at Raven.

"I don't know. At first all I could hear was moans of agony and Robin saying 'sorry' over and over again, then I heard a loud whir, and there was silence. After that I could hear running footsteps as Robin left, and I faintly heard him muttering, 'I hope you're happy' under his breath," Raven said, recounting the story to the best of her ability, mostly for Starfire to hear.

"I believe I now understand why Robin was so intent on my leaving the lair so as not to be plagued by the probes; that was one of the worst things I have ever experienced," she muttered, shivering slightly as she remembered the horrific pain. "All this time, we never knew what horrible danger he had been trying to protect us from; let us hope that we are never reminded of it again."

"Well, I don't know about y'all, but I'd feel a lot better if we get these things out of our bodies now, before we have to deal with it again. At least now that the probes have been in use I can trace them more efficiently. If we hurry, we can get these things out of our bodies before midnight tonight," Cyborg said, standing up straight and hobbling over to the T-car. The others followed close behind, only too happy to comply.

Throughout the ride back, Terra constantly doted on Beast Boy. "Where does it hurt?" she asked over and over again, and always, the answer was the same: "Everywhere." Then always, she would respond, "Oh, I'm sorry Beast Boy!"

Raven was apparently also getting annoyed with so much love and affection in one car, so much so that she elected at the next stoplight to exit the car and fly home herself, wanting nothing to do with this obvious flirting. Starfire, however, didn't mind so much. She knew from experience that once you find somebody that you care for, you should let them know. She was glad for Beast Boy, happy that he had found somebody to laugh at his jokes. (At least she and Raven wouldn't be annoyed by him trying to get them to laugh anymore.)

As soon as they arrived, she zoomed through the tower, traveling as fast as she possibly could. In order to fly, she needed to feel unbridled joy, so she imagined how she would feel once Robin was back with them and everything was said and done. Within seconds, she had flown through the room, rushing around as setting everything up. She slowed down a bit, though, when it came to getting the equipment on. She had a bit of trouble putting everything on, but by the time the others had caught up to her, she was ready.

"Oookay, I guess you want to go first, then, huh?" Cyborg said, half smiling. She responded with an eager nod of her head; the sooner she got these things off, the sooner she would be able to feel safe again. After that last experience, she felt like she was on the edge, as if making another move might trigger more pain. So, yes, she would very much appreciate being able to get these things out of her body.

Cyborg walked Terra through it this time, for she would operate the process when Cyborg's turn came, so she was sitting in a bunch of wire for a long time. There was plenty of time for her to build up excitement as she invisioned how it would happen: how she would swoop in with her friends and give Slade the beating of his life, bring Robin back and "live happily ever after" as some of the earth books she had read so often ended. She like that ending, so she decided to keep it. The only hard part now was actually getting it to happen.

After an hour, she was done, surprisingly. She had expected it to take much longer than that, though she was not going to object to taking all of this stuff off. She hovered over Terra, nervously monitoring the girl's every keystroke as Cyborg's systems were purged of the probes. She was growing impatient; she could hardly wait until they were done working so that she could go save him. Even the fact that Terra was working on both Beast Boy and Cyborg at once did not calm her nerves.

She felt a small hand on her shoulder and turned to see Raven, her hood down and a smile on her face. "What do you say you and I go ahead of the others and start this mission of yours?"

Her eyes lit up as she nodded vigorously. Raven smiled back, and the two girls flew out into the night, leaving the others behind.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Oh, he was ticked. BOY, was he mad. Even the way that he walked portrayed his anger, for each step was so ferocious that as he passed some lonely squirrels on his way, they scattered in fear, along with any bugs, rodents, or any other unfortunate living thing that happened to be in his way. He was mad!

He could tolerate the emotional pain; he had experienced grief and anguish before, it was not a new concept to him. He could tolerate the physical pain; no doubt he had felt even worse in previous years. He could even tolerate solitude; after all, hadn't he locked himself away for most of the time back when he lived in the Tower? But he could not tolerate this at all. He would not stand for any of this insanity, at all. There was no way he would stand by and let his former best friends suffer like that, no way that he would watch a confused little girl standing under Raven's force field, wondering what in the world was going on. This was what he would not tolerate: the suffering of others.

Reaching the familiar black door, he entered the lair with but one thought in mind: to make Slade pay for everything, to make him suffer every atrocity that he had forced upon him. One way or another, he was going to get that villain back, so why not now? He stomped through the hallways, absolutely infuriated at everything that the evil man stood for, for everything that he had been forced to endure for the past year.

He almost didn't notice Wintergreen in the hallway, carrying a dinner tray. In fact, he almost ran into the poor man; had he not seen the look of surprise in the old man's eyes. Wintergreen was obviously upset, upset with both of his charges; Slade for the atrocities he had committed and Robin for the way he was acting. Doubtless the old butler thought pretty badly of him right now, stomping about like this. With an odd sensation of guilt, he dropped his guard for a moment and tried to calm down; his anger was clouding his thoughts, he needed to think straight if he was going to fight. As he did so, he couldn't supress a smile. It was amazing how the old butler could get him to do things without uttering a single word. He really would miss their kinship.

He continued on his way, still ready to fight, but not before he said good-bye to his old friend. Continuing down the hallway, he heard the familiar buzzing of cameras and clicking of buttons that suggested that Slade was watching more clips of the recent fight on his various computer screens. Remembering that surprise was the key, he opened the door as quietly as he could, wasting precious time but also gaining an element in battle. Fortunately, metal doors have a tendency not to squeak, so his goal was accomplished.

He couldn't quite hear what Slade was muttering to himself, most likely something about how he could improve or how he needed to learn not to be distracted by his former friends or something like that, but he really didn't care at that moment, right now he was too focused on getting the control for the probes so that he could leave. This time his footsteps were silent, like a cat, and he sneaked around, completely invisible to Slade's mind's eye. He now had the element of surprise on his side, as well as the fact that he was ready to fight for an eternity if neccessary to win.

With a startling cry, he lunged forward and threw a hard punch at Slade, striking the man across the face and causing him to veer slightly to the side, giving him an odd sense of satisfaction. Jumping backwards, he tried a quick kick, but it was parried by the armored arms. Stepping back, he balled his gloved hands into fists and bared his teeth, not afraid to show that he was fed up.

"I told you that after a few years of training you'd begin to think like me, didn't I? Now look at you, Robin, willing to take revenge, willing to be brutal and angry. Good, you're doing well." As he spoke, he staightened the armor on his uniform and assumed a fighting stance as well, calm and monotone as ever. Suddenly, with a strangled yell, he lunged forward, throwing a strong right punch his way.

Thankfully, he saw the blow coming and was able to leap away at the last second; the same was not true of the floor, it sustained quite a large hole in its metal surface. Doing a graceful backflip, he landed gently back on his feet and deliver a swift kick towards that dreadful mask, but his foot only touched the air until he felt a gloved hand grab him. Rolling in the air, he wrenched his leg out of the villain's grasp and landed back on the ground, turning immediately to face his opponent, not wanting to turn his back for a moment.

"Well, I told you that sooner or later, you'd let your guard down and that I'd take you down, didn't I? Now look at me, I'm fighting you, aren't I? And this time, I intend to win!" As he spoke, he punctuated that last word with a strong kick to the man's chest, sending him backwards a bit. He smiled. It felt good to be fighting back, something he had been wanting to do for a long time.

The two followed each other's moves closely; after a years' worth of training together, they had learned each other's fighting styles by heart, and at this point they were quite evenly matched. Eventually, they were tiring each other out; after at least half an hour both were pretty battered and bruised and both were breathing heavily, and yet neither had gained a significant advantage quite yet. Slade's mask was cracked partially down the middle and a few places in his uniform were torn where the metal armor plates had fallen off. Robin had sustained equal damage; his hair was plastered to his head in sweat and he was missing half of his left sleeve. With both opponents gasping for breath, it was doubtless that sooner or later, one of them was going to collapse.

"This has been going on for too long; I thought it would be over far before this," Robin thought, wondering why Slade hadn't played the "destroy your former friends" card yet. He pushed a lock of hair out of his eyes and gave a strangled cry as he rushed forward, throwing punches left and right and parrying the blows that were sent back in response. They went at it like there was no tomorrow, neither wanting to give the other the slightest advantage. Finally, they both fell back again to catch their breath. "Soon, it's got to be soon. I can't keep doing this; one of us has to give out soon, and I just hope it's not going to be me," he thought as he grabbed a nearby pillar to support himself as he caught his breath.

Suddenly, the pillar burst into several pieces, and he found himself on the ground, staring at an incoming boot. With a grunt, he felt the hard metallic foot strike his face, and he stumbled backward before he could even get up all the way, and he was once again sitting on the ground. Angrily, he rushed forward to deliver a sharp punch, but Slade pulled on of his old tricks, sidestepping his oncoming blow and instead grabbing his arm, wrenching it behind him. He felt his shoulder dislocating slightly and gave an involuntary shudder of pain as he stumbled away, rubbing his shoulder and glaring at his opponent.

"You didn't think that you actually would win, did you?" the menacing man asked, his voice full of contempt. He then played the card that he had been expecting for a while; the "destroy your former friends" card. It really was bothersome when he stopped the fighting like this. "Perhaps your recent missions have brought you too close to the Titans; maybe I should just eliminate the distraction that they are creating once and for all."

His eyes blazed angrily behind his mask, but what could he do? He knew that eventually the fight would end like this, but he had hoped against hope that this card wouldn't have to be played. His mouth worked furiously as he struggled not to scream at Slade, tried to let himself calm down enough to keep that gloved finger from pressing that little hidden button again. Finally, he sighed, saying, "Don't. You win for now, but sooner or later, I'll figure out a way to eliminate the advantage you have over me, and then you won't have a way out." He paused, letting his words sink in before he got in his last sentence. "And then I'll win."

With that, he put his hands down by his sides as a symbol of his defeat, something he seemed to be doing more and more often these days. Still, a trace of a smile stayed on his lips as he gloried in the fact that he could only be defeated by a threat to his friends' lives. In a fair fight, he would have probably won. He waited for Slade to deliver his usual taunt and then dismiss him, but there was a sudden noise above them and they both turned to see what was going. It was the scrape of a door; and two shadows, one with a billowing cloak and one with long hair that waved in the wind.

These two figures stepped into the light. One had glowing white eyes and her hands were completely black and balled into fists. Her blue cloak covered her head, showing only her mouth and nose, not to mention the normal glowing eyes. The rest of the cloak was billowing out behind her, revealing a tiny figure in a black leotard with a golden belt. The girl had a slight smile on her face at the looks of surprise she was earning. The second figure remained suspended in the air, her short purple skirt waving in the wind the other's powers were creating, and her long red hair flowed beautifully behind her as she remained above them, hands on her hips and green eyes lit up, signalling that she was ready to use her powers at any given moment. He immediately recognized them and wanted to cry out in joy: Raven and Starfire!


	16. Chapter 16

I posted this story somewhere else and alot of my readers didn't understand what was going on, so let me just say in advance that you're not supposed to. It only makes sense in Robin's mind until the entire plan unfurls, so just hang tight, okay?

dIsky: Thank you. I've always found fight scenes are harder than I imagined, especially when multiple people come into play.

TTfan: Well, I always figured Star would go biserk if Robin kept ignoring her...

me: Alright, I'm updating!

Keahi Spitfire: Yeah, I always thought that this ephisode needed to get more attention and last longer.

So, without further ado:

Chapter 16

She had heard the clanging sounds of metal on metal and heard the grunts and shouts that meant that there was a fight going on nearby. Motioning for Raven to follow her, they tried to follow the sound, but it stopped soon after, making it impossible for them to find Robin through hearing. They wandered the halls instead as Raven attempted to find them with her mind. Surely two guys fighting would be emitting billions of emotions. Sure enough, she found them when she started feeling many emotions of anger, contempt, disappointment, annoyance, and triumph. Those were boys' emotions, all right. Raven grabbed her arm and led her into the room.

The door was locked, but that was no problem for her people. Charging up a small starbolt, she knocked the lock off easily, giving them access to the room behind the metal door. They jumped inside, both assuming their fighting stances as they took in the scene before them. Both Slade and Robin had obviously taken many blows, and they were both facing each other. Robin had lowered his hands and Slade was holding some strange device in front of him, his finger just above the red button at the top.

Her eyes lit up in anger as she realized that she was witnessing the end of one of Robin's escape attempts. Although there was a mask in front of his eyes, she could see the anger, frustration, and disappointment in his face as Slade was no doubt threatening him with their lives. She gnashed her teeth; she hated to be used like that, to be made to be used as a way to keep her best friend away from her.

"What are you doing here!" he shouted at her, urgency in his voice and in his facial expression as he rushed forward to "greet" them.

"We thought you might appreciate a little assistance, but apparently you like it here, so we'll just be on our way," Raven replied sarcastically, a slight smile evident in her voice, though her eyes stayed their glowing white color.

"Yes, Robin, we have come to take you back!" Starfire said, her eyes still glowing green with anger while her mouth was twisted into a huge smile.

"But you have to get out of here! It's not safe for you, especially not here!" Apparently, he didn't much care that Slade was pretty ticked at him for talking to her, or that he was probably going to get in major trouble for telling her to leave in the first place.

"Robin, we are not going to go anywhere. You are going to come with us, and we are going to take you home to the place that you belong. With us, your friends. We will take you by force if neccessary, although I doubt that will be needed. Come with us, hurry!" she said, extending her hand toward his, but she was met by a sad face as a tall figure stepped behind him, pushing him away from her and standing in between them.

"I'm afraid not. You see, Robin is my apprentice, and I do believe he had an obligation to fight you?" When he said this, he gave Robin a pointed glance and purposefully brandished the trigger that would bring the tormenting pain, or so he thought. Neither knew that she and Raven were free, but then again, it would effect Beast Boy and Cyborg back in the tower, so it was probably best if they tried to draw this out as long as possible.

But Robin had already formed an idea, apparently. He rushed forward and grabbed Raven's arms, pulling them behind her back with a sudden and fierce movement. At first she was not sure what was going on, but she saw Robin's mouth moving next to Raven's ear and the girl was nodding slightly. Raven tore free of his grasp almost too easily and screamed, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

Suddenly, they were inside a black force field and she saw him grinning crazily up at her. He mouthed the words: "starbolts, please" to her and, though she was confused, she began firing at him. For some strange reason, he was grinning as he dodged her, and she was starting to get a little bit irked at his behavior. Raven started chanting again, and the shield around them grew even more dark until she couldn't have imagined anything more black and dark.

"Can he hear anything anymore?" Robin whispered to Raven.

"Let's check," she whispered back, then yelled, "Slade, Robin says he hates your guts!" Sure, it was a bit immature for Raven, but if Slade could hear them, he would definitely have responded to it. Nothing happened.

"Can he see anything?" Robin asked.

"Look, if he could see anything, he'd be inside here. It's safe, okay?" she sighed.

"Good," he replied, dropping all pretenses and signalling to Starfire to stop attacking him. She did so, completely confused.

"Would somebody please explain to me what is the meaning of all of this?" she asked, still completely in the dark.

He smiled at her, a true genuine smile, one that she had missed so for the long period of time that was a year. "Sorry to keep you in the dark, Star, but it was kind of neccessary. I had Raven create a force field to make it look like she was trying to seperate me and Slade, then I had you throw starbolts at me while Slade could still see us so that it looked like you guys were still trying to fight me. This way, we can have a nice conversation without being interrupted. So, I believe you have some explaining to do."

"Um?" she bit her lip, wondering what she would be able to tell him. Taking a deep breath, she decided to tell him everything. "After your betrayal, I was determined to find out the reason that you had left us. I finally found the probes after much searching, and Cyborg and I have been working on a way to get rid of them. We finally figured out a way to get rid of them and Raven and I were freed. We have come for you now, for we do not wish to be forced to fight you anymore."

He nodded in agreement, then asked, "What about Cyborg and Beast Boy?"

She blow out her breath in frustration. Always business before pleasure with him, wasn't it? Oh well. "They are undergoing the operation as we speak. Cyborg estimates that they will be finished within the hour."

"Within the hour? Starfire, that means that they're still at Slade's mercy! How could you have endangered them like that, coming here for me? I can hold my own, you know that. You shouldn't take risks like that for...for...something you're...obsessed...with...oops." He blushed when he realized that he was scolding her for the very thing that had gotten him into this whole mess.

"It is okay, Robin. We forgive you for your past mistake. Now we need only for you to return," she smiled, taking his hand in hers and holding it firmly, though not crushing it as she had done so many times before by accident.

"Um, I hate to spoil the moment, but it's kind of hard to keep up a force field with a gazillion discs and explosives being tossed at it, especially one this size. Just to warn you, I'm going to have to drop a couple layers. In a few seconds, he's going to be able to see and hear us, so any more talking should probably stop now," Raven grunted, and they both noticed that the force field was wavering and that her face was contorted in concentration.

"Gotcha," Robin said, assuming a fighting position. "Sorry, Star, but as long as we keep up this charade, the others aren't in any danger."

"My apologies as well, Robin. Let us hope that Terra has completed the operation at this point," she replied, charging up her starbolts.

As the wall fell, the Titans saw Slade, standing and waiting, holding the trigger to the probes in his hand. He had merely been waiting for them, waiting to push the button so that he might see their suffering when he pushed the button, and probably also so that he might enjoy the emotional pain Robin would endure from watching it. Without hesitation, the gloved finger pushed the red button.

This time, there was no strange sensation, and she and Raven just stood there, looking at him in annoyance. Suddenly, she heard the familiar sound of a communicator beep and picked up to see a scared and confused Terra rushing around smoking machines and an angry Cyborg greeted her.

"Cyborg?" Raven croaked, confused.

"Yeah, I got finished faster than Beast Boy. My advanced cybernetic programming helped speed it along. BB, on the other hand..."

Starfire flinched as she heard Beast Boy's groans and screams. Not good.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

His heart was thumping in his throat and he felt and odd sensation in his stomach. It took him a moment to recognize the emotion: desperation. It was the same feeling he had felt a long time ago, in a different life, on that fateful day when he had lost his parents. And now he was feeling it again. Anger blazed in the eyes that were hidden behind a mask and he had to fight the urge to annhilate the man standing in front of him, the one who had caused all this suffering. The only thing holding him back was the look in her eyes.

Those big green eyes that were normally so vibrant, healthy, and happy were now filled with tears of sadness and the expression of complete and utter confusion. He could almost sense her emotions; she was scared for her friend's life and torn between who to save. It was heartwrenching to see her in this state of utter despair, for she knew it was her duty to save a member of her team, but it was also her duty to her heart to rescue him. His fault.

Believe it or not, though, he was capable of taking care of himself. Deciding that the others' situation was worse than his own, he imporvised a quick plan to try to take this one on. Rushing to her side, he quickly asked for her communicator. As he did so, they both seperated for a moment to dodge a running kick from Slade. They rushed back together long enough for her to give him the device and then seperated. He retreated to a dark corner to talk to the others while she rushed forward to join Raven in fighting their adversary.

He activated the communicator, pausing for only a moment to revel in how good it felt to be back. "I need numbers. What percentage of Beast Boy's body is devoid of the probes?" he asked, speaking quickly and to the point.

A surprised voice answered him. "Robin?"

He sighed, frustrated, for time was of the essence. "Yeah, it's me. Listen, I need those numbers, Cyborg. Otherwise I won't be the only one taking a leave of absense from the team. So start calculating!" He knew that he sounded harsh, but it was neccessary in times like these. After all, they were in the middle of a huge conflict!

"Right. Got it." There was silence on the other end and he impatiently waited on the information, watching the fighting as he tapped his foot.

Raven was in good shape, ducking and dodging almost all attacks on herself and Starfire, and also managing to go on the offensive a few times. He was glad he was no longer on the receiving end of her fury, although that could change in a matter of minutes if something went wrong. That was why nothing, nothing, could go wrong, not now.

"I'm back. The process was fifty-one percent complete when the probes attacked. I'd estimate about fifteen minutes and thirty...nine seconds before it breaches his brain and becomes lethal. If you're going to do something, do it quick, because time's running out, man," Cyborg said, his voice filled with concern, wondering what was going to happen to both of his friends.

He thought for a moment before replying."If you were to continue elimating the probes while they were attacking, about how long would that take?"

Cyborg's brow furrowed as he thought. "Well, since the probes are in action, it will be a lot easier to locate and destroy them, so it might improve our time... Let me get back to you on that. Hold on." With that, his face once again left the screen.

He waited, again watching the fighting. The girls definitely had the advantage, though they still had received their fare share of scrapes and close calls. His eyes, however, were not on fighting techniques and styles, as many would probably expect of him, but on the fighters, or rather, one fighter in particular.

He loved the way her body moved gracefully through the air as she flew, never losing her aire of majesty. It truly was a great thing to witness her in action, her wondrous style outshining that of many others he had seen in his time as a hero and as a villain. Her eyes were glowing green, but he didn't need that as a sign to tell him that she was angry; he could tell even if he hadn't heard a word she said or seen her eyes, just by looking at the way she moved.

"Yo!"

He snapped back to reality to see a smriking, teasing Cyborg on his communicator screen. "Sorry?"

"Terra's been working this whole time. If I combine my efforts with hers, we estimate a time of completion of about twelve minutes. That gives us a three minute margin," Cyborg replied, repeating himself.

"All right, start working. Can you get Beast Boy on the line, or can he even talk?" he asked, silently wondering ready he was ready or not to see the younger boy.

"Hold on."

Growing more and more impatient, he tried to concentrate on the numbers. Taking into account the time it would take Cyborg to set it up so that he could talk to Beast Boy, they had dropped their margin time to about two minutes. It was still possible, but he would not do anything without Beast Boy's consent. He had sworn never to force anyone to do anything they didn't want to do ever again, unless it was absolutely a life-and-death situation if they didn't. He didn't want to force anything on the younger boy that he would not have the strength to do.

"Hey." It was Beast Boy, smiling despite the obvious pain that was apparent in his eyes. Always the jester, that one.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, his voice filled with concern, causing Cyborg to raise an eyebrow. He really had changed a lot this past year, enough so that he actually made his feelings manifest.

"Pretty...good...all things...considered," Beast Boy said, gasping as a new round of pain coursed through his body.

He looked the younger boy over. The probes only occupied half of his body, thus there were splotched of green within the orange. There was obviously much pain behind his ever-present smile.

"Listen, how long do you think you can keep this up? Because you know if you can't handle it anymore, just say the word and I'll call the whole thing off. I'll be fine with whatever choice you make," he said. He could tell that Beast Boy was surprised at how much emotion was evident in his expression and his voice, could tell that the younger Titan was wondering what had happened to change him from the isolated, unemotional, anger-prone leader to the caring leader.

"I'll be fine. Don't give...agh!...up just yet. Just stop 'em if I'm gonna..." He didn't finish the sentence. He couldn't: he was too much of an optimist.

"You don't have to do this, you know. I can take care of myself," he said, wanting to make sure that the younger boy was absolutely certain. Was that really him talking? He could tell now why the others were having such a hard time believing that this was his voice. He really had changed so much during his absence.

An area around the changeling's ear returned to its orginal green color and the boy sighed with relief at even a slight drop in the pain levels. Beast Boy smiled slightly, saying, "No, I'll be fine." He was obviously trying to sound brave in front of Terra, though Robin could see the fear in the younger boy's eyes.

"Alright. Well, tell Cyborg to give us a call when he's finished or if we have to abort the mission," he replied, cutting off the transmission and preparing to return to battle.

Suddenly, Starfire came flying at him, a living projectile. He caught her in mid-air, stumbling backwards for a moment due to the force of the impact, then straightening himself up. As he put her down, he wondered whether he was ever going to be with her again after all of this was over. As he thought this, he noticed her feet shuffle towards him a bit.

Before he knew what was happening, he felt her lips press against his. It was a wonderful sensation and for this short moment that it had happened, he felt that time was standing still. Joy overflowed his mind. And then it was over. Blinking, he stepped backward a bit. Finally, his mouth formed words. "What was that for?" It wasn't exactly what he had meant to say, but he couldn't form words at the moment; he was still getting over the initial shock.

"It was for...luck. Just in case this was goodbye." Her eyes were glittering with the excitement of what had just happened.

He smiled up at her, returning her happy expression. She smiled back at him, and they grabbed each other's hands and rushed forward to return to the fighting. She pulled him into the air and swung him around in a circle as he extended his leg in a strong kick, feeling it connect with a metal chest. Though his mind registered that was throwing and receiving blows, he wasn't completely there at the moment. He didn't register Raven's smug smirk or Starfire's increased attacks on Slade.

One watching him from the sideline would have said he fought like a dragon, relentless in the fury of his attacks, though his faced remained a constant expression of glee. Though he and Slade were still evenly matched, he was not registering the fight and thus did not think it was that hard. He didn't even register Raven answering her communicator. He didn't hear what she said, but she was grinning.

"You know, Slade, now that the Titans are probe-free, I don't have to listen to you anymore," he remarked as he dodged a hard right punch.

Lost in his emotions, he was completely oblivious to everything around him, that is, until a sudden crash brought the metal door down and he turned to see Cyborg and Terra standing in the doorway, both wearing relieved expressions that told him that the opertaion had been successful. Unfortunately, he was so distracted that he didn't notice a certain metal boot headed his way until it hit him full on in his side, sending him careening backwards into a wall.

Still, the Titans had a huge advantage with the addition of two more team members, and Slade soon found himself a bit overwhelmed trying to fight five angry teenagers at the same time. So, as usual, he pulled a trick out of his huge bag to end the fight.

He didn't hear exactly what Slade was saying to Terra, but she seemed to be taking it pretty badly. He could see her lower lip quivering as she mouthed the words: "Stop it, stop it!"

The ground began to shake as her eyes began to glow yellow and rocks began to fall all around them. Slade slipped away, taking advantage of their distraction to escape, for they had all rushed to her side to try to keep her from losing control again.

He reached the scared girl first. Putting his hand on her shoulder, he helped her rise and said, "It's okay, we're not mad at you just because Slade knows how to expose your weaknesses. I know how it feels. All you need to do is gain control. Concentrate, I know you can do it. Beat it back."

She looked up at him with a tear-stained smile filled with hope, hope that he really was excepting her even though she had let Slade escape. Taking deep breaths, she calmed herself down enough so that the quaking stopped. She grinned up at the crowd that had gathered around her, but her grin faltered and she suddenly gasped at something when she saw him again.

"Um, Robin?" Starfire tapped him on the shoulder and gestured towards his side, the one that Slade had rammed his metal foot into not long before.

He followed her gaze to see that his uniform was dripping dark liquid. Blood. He had been bleeding? He must not have noticed it what with his emotions having taken over and all the confusion going on. "I'll be fine," he said, as much to convince the others as to convince himself. "Let's go home," he added, walking forward, but Cyborg blocked his path.

"Man, you're not going anywhere with an injury like that. Let Star carry you or something, because there's no way you could make it losing that much blood," Cyborg said, crossing his arms over his chest.

He opened his mouth to retort, but as he did so, his world blurred and he looked behind him to see a buddle of dark liquid behind him. He really had lost a lot of blood. As much as it would hurt his pride, perhaps the idea wasn't such a bad one after all... Closing his mouth, he nodded his head slightly to acknowledge that he had accepted Cyborg's propostition. Before Starfire could lift him, though, he let out a shapr gasp of pain as her hands accidentally touched his open wound. After a year of tortures of both the mind and the body, his brain reacted to more pain by shutting down. The last thing he heard was her gasp of surprise as he saw sudden darkness and felt himself go limp in her arms. He had blacked out from the overload of both physical and psychological stress.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Same as always

I guess you people are really getting into this, so I worked my tail off to get the next chapter up. Hope you like it!

Chapter 18

She gaped in surprise when he fell onto her, and she staggered backwards with the unexpected weight, but she soon righted herself, holding him steady as Raven tore off her cloak, ripping it into long strips and tying it around his open wound to try and stop the bleeding. She flinched as she watched this all, for he truly had lost a lot of blood. How had he not noticed that?

The rocks started to fall again and she, along with all the others, turned towards Terra, but the girl's eyes were not glowing yellow, and she was just standing there, just as confused as everybody else. "It wasn't me," she said, backing up and arching an eyebrow when she noticed that four pairs of eyes were all now completely focused on her.

"Slade must have triggered a cave-in; let's get out of here!" Cyborg said, making a beeline for the exit.

She didn't need telling twice. Scooping him up in her arms, she rushed outside after the others. No sooner had they all reached the exit than the rocks began to fall and a huge mass of rubble, metal, and stones came rushing down. They narrowly avoided its path as it came crashing down, blocking the entrance to the cave as it did so.

Her heart raced as her breathing slowly returned to normal, and she repositioned his limp figure in her arms so that his head would not loll around lifelessly as she moved. She could feel his ragged breath on her upper arm and she strengthened her hold on him for a moment, fearing for a split second that she might drop him while she was gathering her strength.

She approached the Tower. It was glowing like a shimmering beacon, calling her towards it, and as she saw it, she knew that she had to get him there as soon as possible and get him into the medical ward. At that moment, she felt that she had never been more ecstatic to see her home than she was now.

She flew quickly through the tower, carrying him up the stairs towards their emergency room. As she did so, she passed the room with the fateful equipment in which one of her teammates had almost lost his life. Trying to calm the desperate feelings that arose in her throat as she recalled the incident, she was glad when she finally reached the door to the medical ward.

Opening the door, she saw the small green changeling sitting on a white bed. Looking up when she came in, he flashed her a huge grin, as he always did. She returned his grin only half-heartedly, her eyes not on him but on all the instruments to which he was strapped. Then she turned her attention back to the unconscious figure in her arms. Gently setting him down on the nearest bed, she tried to position him as comfortably as she could, even fluffing up his pillows behind his head though she was aware that he could not tell what she was doing to make his stay more enjoyable. He would thank her when he woke up. She changed his bandages, for the blue cloak was already soaked with blood, and tied it tight to try to prevent any more bleeding. Unfortunately, her knowledge of medicine was limited. She would have to wait for Cyborg before she could know what she could possibly do to help.

Thankfully, he entered not long after she had finished disposing of the remnants of the soaked blue cloak, the owner of said cloak following close behind, along with Terra. He immediately went to his instruments, hooking the unconscious boy up to even more machines than poor Beast Boy was hooked up to and sticking several needles in his arm. She winced as she watched this, but she knew that Cyborg knew what he was doing, and she trusted him. His expression was serious as he turned to face her and said, "If he survives the night, he'll probably make a full recovery. It's too soon to tell if the amount of blood that he lost will be fatal or not, so we'll just have to wait and see. All we can do now is hope that he didn't lose too much blood." With that, all three left the medical ward, leaving her alone with the two boys that were confined to this room for a while.

"Anyone care to tell me what happened to him?" Beast Boy asked. She brought her head up sharply. She had been so lost in thought that she had completely forgotten about the ward's other occupant.

"During our fight, Robin was injured severely and has lost much blood," she said simply, her voice forlorn and her facial expression one of despair as she spoke these words.

He gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, he'll be fine. I mean, this is Robin we're talking about, huh? He'll probably be up tomorrow morning, yelling at us for making him stay in bed all day."

She half-smiled, then returned her worried gaze towards his limp figure. The heart monitors said that his vital organs were doing fine, but his ragged breathing and the irregular movement of his chest as he breathed told her how much pain he truly was in, though he would never admit this if- when- he woke up.

Beast Boy's voice became one of a comforting tone this time, all joking aside. "It's okay. He'll be fine. Don't worry about it. Stop worrying and get some sleep." Even as he spoke, though, she could tell that he was in fact trying to convince himself of the truth of his own words.

Suddenly, Beast Boy sat up straight in his bed, his eyes wide as he gripped the edge of his bed. His knuckles turned whiter than marble as he grasped the metal bars near him, and she could almost feel his pain from across the room. She rushed to his side to see what she could do to help.

"It appears that the recent attack on your life has repurcussions. You are certain that you are okay?" she asked, deeply concerned.

"Yeah, Cy says that the rounds of pain should stop in a week or two and then, only then, he'll let me out of here." He gave a dry laugh as he tried to relax once more. "Stuck with that overly-serious guy for two weeks straight...wish me luck, Star, because I'm going to go crazy with boredom."

She stifled a laugh, surprised at his dry humor. Apparently, he could be funny when he was in pain, just not at any other time. Strange. Shrugging, she excused herself, crossing the hallway into her room to retrieve a pillow and some blankets, for she fully expected to spend the night in that room. If anything were to go wrong, or if something should go right -please let that be the case- she wanted to be there to help in whatever way she could.

She soon found the task of staying awake to watch the two boys utterly impossible, her energy well spent from the excitement she had recently seen. After Beast Boy dozed off and began snoring louder than she could stand, she eventually jammed her head between two pilows and slowly drifted off into a deep sleep that way dreaming of the day of Robin's recovery when he would be able to rejoin the team.

"I'm sorry we weren't able to work faster to stop the probes. Are you sure you're okay?"

She jerked her head up, awakened by Terra's voice. Looking around, she saw that she had fallen asleep with her head on the edge of his bed. Rubbing her sore neck, she looked around to see that Terra and Beast Boy were talking animatedly and fully enjoying each other's company as Beast Boy ate a light breakfast that Terra had apparently made for him. Wondering whether she dared, she slowly turned her head to look at him.

Well, he had survived the night, at least. At the moment, he was still out cold, but his breathing had returned to normal and his bandages were clean of any fresh blood. She stared at him for a moment, anticipating the moment that he would awaken. Even as she watched, she saw his fingers twitch slightly and he emitted a soft moan, stirring into consciousness. Though she was unable to see whether his eyes were open behind that mask, she knew he was awake when he started trying to move around to take in his surroundings.

"You are awake!" she excalimed, causing both Beast Boy and Terra to turn in surprise, for they had been so wrapped up in talking to each other that theay had been completely oblivious to the fact that either one of the other occupants of the room were even awake, much less shouting.

He smiled weakly up at her, then grunted as he tried to push himself back up. Unfortunately, he did not yet have the strength to do that, and all he succeeded in doing was to crash back onto the pillows that she had arranged for him. His brow furrowed in annoyance and frustration as he remarked, "Yeah, I'm awake, but why am I lying here and why am I still weaing this stupid outfit?"

She beamed brightly; she had her Robin back! "May I fetch you something to eat? Cyborg says that you will be unable to eat solid foods for a while, but that you may eat food like yogurt and such for a while until you are feeling better."

He frowned, for he had rather been enjoying the prospect of eating a real meal now that he was back with his friends, but he let it pass. "Sure, why not? And while you're at it, could you get Cyborg to help me get this idiotic getup off?"

Beaming, she rushed off. Everything was back to normal now that her Robin was back. The idea flitted around and she enjoyed it so much that she had to repeat it, so when she entered the kitched where Raven and Cyborg were, she screamed, "He's back!"


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I own nadda.

Hey, did I say it was over? It's not over til I say so! (It's not over til I give you an epilogue, which I'm working on getting up, I swear)

Chapter 19

He stood on the roof of the tower as the sun set, enjoying the beauty of being outdoors. For the past month he had been in that medical ward, long after he would have preferred to leave, but apparenlty they were scared that he'd fall over or something, because they wouldn't let him leave until he was in perfect condition, able to walk upright and everything. Finally, he was able to come outside unsupervised to enjoy the beautiful sunsets that he had so missed during his time in that little cramped room.

A sudden wind picked up, causing his cape to billow around him. It felt good, really, to be wearing his old outfit again. He had visited his room for the first time in over a year earlier that morning. The first thing he did when he entered that room was to jump onto his bed and just lay there. Though the others did not understand why he wanted to do this, he did. After sleeping on a cot for a year, the bed felt like he was sleeping on clouds. And best of all, it was his own. He didn't recall exactly how long he had sat there, drinking in the glory that was so simple as his small room, but he had enjoyed every second of it.

During his time in the medical ward, he had gotten plenty of chances to talk to everyone; it seemed to be a regular activity for them lately, talking to him. They practically took turns, though Beast Boy was the one he talked to the most often, seeing as the two boys were stuck together for two weeks straight. Most of the time, he asked how the younger boy was feeling and asked his forgiveness for asking him to do something so hard on such short notice. Of course, the green joker smiled at these remarks and kind of just brushed them off, saying that it was no trouble at all and that it was what friends do anyway.

Terra seemed to be constantly talking to both boys, mostly Beast Boy, but she was always trying to talk to him as well. Always, though, it was "Are you sure you're okay?" or "I didn't hurt you too badly, did I, when I lost control?" or "I'm so sorry for letting Slade get away." Poor thing, she wanted so badly for everyone to accept her despite her flaws. He didn't blame her, either. He would always reply with a quick, "Don't worry about it." Originally, he had always replied with an apology of his own for everything he had been forced to say to her, but the time for apologies was over at this point, he felt, for they had been apologizing for a month now and it was starting to get old.

The sun dipped all the way into the horizon, leaving him in the soft light of the stars, for there was no moon that night. Everything was just so peaceful and he wanted to drink it all in, enjoy every second of this, the sensation that he was free and no longer cramped up in a small room anymore. He had missed his sunrises and sunsets, when the world seemed the most peaceful of all. It was times like these when he could really think.

And he did so, his thoughts wondering around as he recalled everything the others had told him. He had listened on as they told him of countless other villains and he had been very much interested when Starfire had told him how exactly she had found him and what they had done to rescue him. It felt strange, really, being able to talk again freely. At first the words had felt strange in his mouth, for he had been silent for quite some time now, and talking was almost foreign to him. He had eventually become comfortable again talking with everyone, and he had even become a bit more relaxed in his social life, letting his emotions take prevaillance every once in a while.

Cyborg had probably been the one to talk most about how Starfire had been behaving. It was from him that he learned how obsessed she really had been, and every once in a while, Cyborg would tell him something she had done during that long year, and he'd be utterly taken aback at how depressed she really had been. He hadn't known he would have had such a profound impact on her... But he had hoped he would, hadn't he?

He sighed, this was the part where his line of thought became all too confusing. She had gone to great lengths to save him, even though he had never expressed the same to her, and yet she still tried. Obviously there was something there, but he was too scared to see it. He didn't understand. He thought it would have been easier for him to talk about how he felt now that he was back, but there was still that wall there. Why was expressing his feelings for her so hard for him, even after the kiss?

The kiss. Aaaand this was where it got interesting. As he remembered what had occurred that day, time always stopped at that moment and he could recall nothing after that point before running to calm Terra down and finding out that he had been bleeding the whole time. It had been such a wonderful experience that day, but he still had yet to find the words to express it to her...

"Still quiet and secluded, I see. You haven't changed as much as the others think. You never could stand to be surrounded by people, could you?"

He laughed quietly to himself. He recognized that sarcastic voice: it was Raven. He turned to face his good friend. "I see you haven't changed while I was gone either. Still sarcastic and witty as ever,huh?"

She smiled that half-smile that she always had; she had never really truly smiled, not that he'd seen at least. Now if he had gotten the chance to see Starfire in this girl's body, he could have seen a bigger smile on her face than he ever really cared to see... Well, he didn't want to think about all that he had missed in their lives during his absense, so he dismissed the thought as she replied. "You really should come back inside. It's freezing out here."

He laughed dryly. "Why should I come back inside? I've been inside for over a year straight. I really don't feel like staying inside for the rest of my life as well."

She put her hands on her hips and took a step forward, her eyes level with his own, as she said, "You have changed, though, in that you seem to have developed a dry sense of humor. What happened to make you so sarcastic and witty? I thought that was my field of expertise." As she spoke, she cocked an eyebrow, showing him that this time she was asking not out of sarcasm but out of real curiosity.

"Not sure, really. I guess after being locked up with yourself for such a long time you kind of develop a wierd outlook on the world. Go figure," he replied, shrugging.

Suddenly, a quiet voice spoke up behind them. "Excuse me."

It was Starfire! His eyes lit up behind his mask and though he knew the girls couldn't see it, he had to hide his slight blush as she walked up onto the roof to join them. Casting him a sly glance, Raven left the two of them alone. He wanted to call her back, tell her to save him. Why was he so scared of talking about his feelings? It really shouldn't be so hard, but it was.

"Hey, Starfire." He finally settled on something to say. A shaky something, but something nonetheless.

"Hello Robin. I see you are enjoying your time outside. The stars are so beautiful, are they not?" At least she could come up with something to say.

He cleared his throat, trying to think of something to say and getting frustrated at himself. Why was this so hard to do? Had he not spent nights alone dreaming of what he'd say to them all when he returned? Why couldn't he say it? "Yeah. It's so peaceful and quiet up here. It gives you a chance to think, doesn't it? I just love sunrises and sunsets. It's like the whole world is at peace." Well, at least he had said something, and it was on topic, too!

He didn't notice her staring at him, nor did he notice the gleam in her eyes as she was enjoying his company. "Robin, I am very glad that you are back with us."

That voice, it was so enchanting. He turned to face her completely and finally noticed the look in her eyes. "You know, Star, I'm really glad to be back here too. Thanks again for coming to my rescue. I loved every second of it," he paused. "Every second." It was such a stupid thing to say, he knew, but his brain didn't seem to be functioning at the moment.

"I did too," she said.

He edged a little bit closer to her and she followed suit until finally their hands brushed against each other and they grabbed hold. For a moment he just gazed up into her eyes, those eyes that were now full of joy and happiness, replacing the fear and anger that he had caused to be there before. Before he even knew what was happening, they were getting closer and closer until they finally found each others lips.

This was easier than trying to express it in words, that was for sure, and he definitely liked this a lot better. The world continued around them, but they didn't notice. They were lost in each other's embrace, and neither wanted the moment to end. She was obviously enjoying it too, for she didn't try to end it very soon. In fact, they might have been locked together for an eternity if a blaring beeping sound below them had not interrupted them.

Neither wanting to, but both knowing that it was neccessary, they slowly broke away from each other and turned. Just in time, too, for no sooner had they stepped apart then Cyborg came up the stairs to announce that Mumbo Jumbo was up to some new tricks. "We'll be right down," he assured Cyborg, then, turned to her as soon as the older boy left them alone. "Shall we?" he asked.

She grasped his hand in her own and replied, "Let us go together to do the thing that we do best."

He laughed, a real, true laugh. Something he had not done since he was a small boy. She seemed a bit surprised at his happiness, but he didn't care. Everything was perfect now, and not even fighting a villain could bring him down today. Because now that he had her, everything was just as it should be.


	20. Epilogue

Disclaimer: Same as always.

One note: Wintergreen's referral to Slade as a madman is out of both respect and fear, not hatred. You'll see what I mean.

Epilogue

He strode down the hallway. After that exciting day when the Titans had showed up to try to make Slade pay, he'd been quite busy. He gathered his laundry, and as he did, a note fell out of one of the pockets of his clothes. Wondering what it could possibly say, he read it, putting the rest of the laundry off for a moment. It was neither adressed nor signed, though after reading a few paragraphs into it, he knew who it was from:

My old friend:

If you are reading this then I was successful in delivering it. It was quite a challenge getting it to you, for it was quite hard to do so undetected, seeing as we both live in different worlds now. I would like to thank you for the role you played in my life for the brief year that I knew you. Although you and I really never spoke, I enjoyed both your maturity and our quiet friendship. It was nice to have somebody else who understands what it is like to work for the madman.

Furthermore, I would like to express my deep concern for you. I was unable to find out what happened after the rockslide and whether you were injured severely. Although my sources tell me that you made it out, I've heard rumors from several villains that I've come (unfortunately) into contact with that you have not been seen for some time. Though this is unsurprising, for you are quite quiet in nature, I wanted to make sure that you were all right.

Again, thank you for the positive influence you had on me for that brief year. Although we had a somewhat rocky beginning, often with plates being chucked out of windows and hurtful words, you really were an example to me in your unwavering faith, especially your faith in me. Despite the fact that our conversations were quite short, you could always seem to tell when I was disappointed or angry, especially when it came to matter of a certain villain.

I hope that this letter reaches you safely and that it has not been destroyed or any such thing. Although I would invite you to come visit me, I'm sure that the people you and I acquaintance ourselves with would not allow you to come or go. Still, I wish to espress my deepest gratitude for all that you taught me about enduring to the end and being steadfast in your faith.

Sincerely,

Your old friend.

He folded the paper up and put it in one of his many pockets. The letter was even typed to prohibit any who intercepted it from understanding who it was to and who it was from in order to protect them both. He thought about that year as he proceeded to resume carrying his laundry back to fold it. He laid it down, then decided to put it off for a while and just think.

His old friend. Believe it or not, he actually missed the poor guy. He hoped everything was going well. After that day, he had returned to life the way it was before. Although he had originally been changed because of what had happened, he had eventually reverted back to his old habits of not speaking and keeping to himself, which, in a profession as dangerous as his, wasn't neccessarily a bad thing.

"Are you going to do the laundry or not?" a different voice asked, the owner of said voice not present, but watching him nonetheless. He smiled, thinking it a bit humorous that he had let his thoughts drift so much. He resumed his daily life, finally returning to his own room at the end of an exhausting day of chores. Why he still worked in this profession where there were so many dishes to be washed and so much rubble to clean up after long fights, he still wasn't sure. Maybe he enjoyed watching his two old acquaintances go at it, he couldn't really pinpoint it.

He took the letter back out and reread it. They really had been good friends, hadn't they? He pondered on the impact that the other had had on his own life. As he did so, he couldn't help but smile at certain memories. Throwing plates and stopping tantrums... Believe it or not, the two old friends actually had made good memories during those hard times.

He put the letter in a drawer in his room, folding it carefully and neatly. As he did so, Wintergreen smiled.


End file.
